A HEALTH festival was held in Henley on Saturday.
There were about 30 stalls from different businesses and organisations in Market Place and inside the town hall.
They included Healthium Clinics, Henley library, We Weed, Henley Bowls Club and Fitness Space.
The festival was organised by the Bell Surgery in collaboration with the town council.
Devante Claridge ran a stall for charity My Vision Oxfordshire, which helps people with visual impairment, offering advice and support. He said: “We’re predominantly run by visually impaired people. If you pick up the phone you will nine times out of 10 be speaking to someone who has lived the experience and they have all their advice.”
He had brought along equipment including level liquid indicators, cocoon sunglasses made from ballistic nylon and an OrCam, which takes a picture and reads out the words on it.
Jane Gatfield and Lynne Blenco were representing a community choir called Sing Your Pain Away, which promotes group singing for wellbeing, health and fun. It meets at Henley Rugby Club on Thursday mornings. Ms Gatfield said: “It’s great for reducing anxiety, it’s great for lifting the mood, it’s good for lung capacity and breathing and it’s just a wonderful social thing to do. We don’t perform, so there’s no pressure.
“At least 50 per cent of people in our group told me they couldn’t sing when they joined but the thing is you still get the health and wellbeing benefits even if you can’t sing.”
Dr Shilpa McQuillan promoted the Berkshire Menopause Clinic in Henley, which supports and helps people going through perimenopause and menopause.
Town councillor Michelle Thomas promoted the Henley Volunteer Network, a Facebook page she established while mayor.
She said: “I’ve got an A to Z of organisations which use volunteers in Henley but there aren’t enough of them posting on the network.
“My message is that in order for it to work, people have to keep posting. We’ve got 121 people registered but they can’t find a match.”
The event was sponsored by Berkshire Independent Hospital, Riverside Counselling Service, Berkshire Menopause Clinic, Henley Rowing Club and Healthium Clinics.
