It once held the unenviable title of most inactive area in England, but Sandwell manages to make great strides in improving the fitness and health of its residents. The BBC went to find out how.
“They are always doing something, they are always on the go.”
The doors open and the boys rush in. The nets are stretched, the court floor has been freshly polished and water bottles line the wooden benches.
Emma Withey brought her three sons Lewis, 16, Charlie, 12, and Jake, 10, to play badminton.
They arrived early at Hadley Stadium in Smethwick looking forward to playing with their friends from the Sandwell Special Olympics group.
After lockdown ended, the Withey family stepped up their weekly physical exercise routine, so they combine an hour on the pitches with football, a swimming lesson and a walk with their dog.
It’s the balance Emma of Smethwick has been striving for. Her boys have learning disabilities, and she told me she had a hard time finding activities that excited them, held their attention, and kept them fit.
“It just burns off all the guys’ crazy energy,” she said.
“They love it and it’s like a great big family here. It’s just finding the time to fit everything into tea and bedtime routines, it’s quite difficult.”
The Witheys are among a growing number of families in Sandwell seeking physical activity and it’s making a real difference to overall public health.
For the first time in years, the six towns that make up Sandwell no longer have the least active children in the Midlands. The area is finally shedding the label of what some have called – rather unkindly – the fat capital of the Black Country.
A large physical activity study by Sport England looked at how much exercise an adult gets each week. If it’s more than 150 minutes, it’s considered an “active” lifestyle, but if it’s less than 30 minutes, it’s considered an “inactive” lifestyle.
The bad news for the Black Country is that it remains the least active area in England overall – with 35 per cent of adults exercising less than half an hour a week.
But Sandwell has gone from being the least active community in England to 14th in the space of a year. There is nothing sluggish about this improvement.
“Sandwell is one of those places where a sense of community is absolutely crucial,” the region’s director of public health told me.
According to Lisa McNally, the local authority is working harder and offering more grants to grassroots sports organizations.
“It’s not about telling them what to do,” she adds.
The council has awarded grants to dozens of grassroots sports organizations from soccer to dancing to tennis.
And with the Sandwell Aquatics Center being a focus of the forthcoming Commonwealth Games in Smethwick, the Authority has pledged to continue offering free swimming lessons for children at local pools.
Continued access to sport must take into account the cost of living for families, says Dr. McNally.
“We have a high level of financial deprivation,” she said. “Many of our residents struggle with money and that can be a major barrier to accessing physical activity and sports.”
The Albion Foundation invited me to see some of their sports coaching in schools. The charity’s goal is to put in 10 million hours of sport over the next decade and “make a difference in 100,000 lives”.
At Eaton Valley Primary in West Bromwich, third graders got fit on one of the warmest days of the year.
Katie Grainger and her team led a group tennis lesson while students with special needs tried their hand at the long jump.
Crucially, they found that 91 percent of the children they serve during school hours also attend their sessions after school and on weekends.
“Obesity has been pretty high since Covid, so I think that’s helped change the way we think, too,” says Katie. “I think it’s really important to encourage not just physical activity but a healthy lifestyle as a whole.”
Volunteers are an important part of changing attitudes. Norma Hyde has been a Sandwell Special Olympics volunteer for 40 years.
The organization just received the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.
Ms Hyde says young adults have been missing sport and exercise during the pandemic, increasing their isolation.
“They missed it for quite a long time and they started to get unfit and it affected their mental health as well,” she said.
“Many became so isolated and depressed that they needed something to belong to. We try to keep them active and keep the momentum going.”
The devil, as the saying goes, is in the details, but really it’s in the data.
In Sandwell, NHS England last year reported a nine per cent drop in hospital admissions which can be directly attributed to obesity.
Based on the Sport England survey, it’s understandable why there’s renewed confidence that families like the Witheys are involved in sport.
For a decade I have reported on the difficulties families in the Black Country face in staying fit, eating healthy and exercising.
I’ve spoken to countless health experts and frustrated public health directors, all of whom had sensible plans, but as new data emerged it was clear that progress was much more difficult to come by.
dr McNally says the Commonwealth Games could generate “a lot more interest in being active…which could give such a boost to what we’re trying to achieve here”.
Follow BBC West Midlands on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. Submit your story ideas to: newsonline.westmidlands@bbc.co.uk
Add Comment