Join us in York
How to take partYork groups
Our regular weekly groups in York include our ‘Balanced Lives’ programmes and our ‘Better Together’ social programmes.
Our Balanced Lives programmes focus on a range of activities including gentle movement, basic health advice, learning new life skills, and meeting people of similar age and interests, plus some suggestions to improve your overall health and well-being.
York and district programmes
Covid online sessions
We are running online activities only during the current coronavirus restrictions.
Details of the sessions are below:
Balanced Lives Chi and Chat Relaxation – York
7pm to 7.30pm – Friday evening
Betty Sutherland
Every Friday
Joining us is easy
Mobility Lead: Betty Sutherland

What our group members say
I’m amazed that I’m now able to do things that I just couldn’t do before taking part in ‘Balanced Lives’. I can raise my arms without pain and feel much more independent.
Find our centres on the map
Parish Hall Fairwood Road West Cross Swansea SA3 5JP
Clydach Community Hall, Vardre Rd, Clydach, Swansea SA6 5LP
Community Room, Hazel Court, Swansea SA2 8BP
Side Room, Upper Killay Recreational Hall, Gower Rd, Upper Killay, Swansea SA2 7HQ
Activities Room, West Cross Community Centre, Linden Ave, West Cross, Swansea SA3 5LE
Northolme Community Centre, Belmont, Hereford. HR2 7SP
Brynngwyn Court Community Room, Hereford. HR1 1ER
Belmont Community Centre, Eastholme Avenue, Belmont. Hereford.
Prior Bank Care Home, Cherry Tree Road, Sheffield S11 9AB
Werrington Lodge Care Home, Baron Court, Werrington Meadows, Peterborough PE4 7ZF
Foxwood Community Centre, Acomb, York YO24 3HY
St Luke’s Church Hall & Community Centre, Burton Stone Lane Clifton, York YO30 6DG
Golau Caredig Independent Living, 9th Floor, Gladstone Road, Barry, CA62 7AZ
The Gathering Place, Day Care Centre, 1 Flemingstone Road, St. Athan, Barry CF62 4JH
Murchfield Community Centre, Sunnycroft Lane, Dinas Powys CF64 4QQ
Bourne Programme
Balanced Lives Carers Initiative
More about our York groups
Supporting local communities
Balanced Lives is going from strength to strength in the wonderful city of York. These popular weekly community programmes take place in an area with a very high population of older persons. The Balanced Lives programmes, funded by the Big Lottery are helping us reach out to local communities and add valuable depth to the long-term strategy of older people’s services in York.
The programmes have received recognition from York City Council for their important work in Falls Prevention. Recent events include a hugely successful Christmas Party at Foxwood.
York Case Study
Our latest Case Study is a story of impressive progress.
Janet Freeman is a lady with a degenerative condition that’s affecting her balance, confidence and speech. Her husband brings her ever week and she’s been coming to the Foxwood group for almost a year. Recently her husband had a fall and broke his hip, but this didn’t put Janet off, she asked her son to come quite a distance to bring her to class. He is so appreciative of the support and friendship she gets in the class, they both stay on for the Community lunch.
Betty has been working on Janet’s balance and confidence. “This week she joined me in standing up and doing quite a bit of Tai Chi. The smile on her face said it all. She is such a determined lady and loves being part of the group,” says Betty.
Foxwood Group Update – February 2020
Betty’s Foxwood group in York is going from strength to strength on a Friday morning.
The participants are continuing the York Can-Can – a sit-down exercise for the legs. Then there’s a new move where everyone steps backwards (with lots of care) into a posture entitled ‘Step Back Repulse the Monkey’.
The hand action accompanying this has been nicknamed ‘Gin and Tonic’ because it resembles a drinking action. As you can imagine, the group are having lots of fun as their health improves.
Read our news updates
You can read more news about York and from all our programmes on our news and events pages. These are the items with special interest to those of you who are interested in what is going on in York

Care Home Karaoke
Intergenerational project with a common theme.The purpose of Care Home Karaoke was to find a...

The Jigsaw Project
Action For Elders unveils its latest local community initiative.A new project distributing jigsaws...

Having a party
The Socially Distanced Way.As we move slowly out of lockdown people are looking for different ways...
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