A HUGELY successful community information day has been held at Andersonstown Leisure Centre.
Twenty-two community organisations and businesses attended the day covering a range of different sectors and topics.
The Andersonstown Leisure Centre provided free taster fitness sessions, free mobility session and had a free nutritional seminar by Tony O’Neill on how to get the most out of your gym session through nutrition.
Andersonstown Leisure Centre has the largest indoor Aqua Park in the North, offering three high speed water slides including a drop slide, master blaster and body slide and is the home of Surf Belfast, Ireland’s only indoor surf simulator. The centre also has an air-conditioned gym offering 140 cardiovascular and resistance stations as well as dedicated free weight and functional training areas.
The stalls present at the information day included: Cancer Focus, Age Friendly Belfast, Autism NI, Better Gym, Upper Andersonstown Community Forum, Housing Executive, Sure Start, Community Restorative Justice Ireland, West Community Safety Team, TNT performance, DAWG addiction and suicide prevention charity and TAMHI, among many others.
TAMHI's Colm Cullen and DAWG founder Nichola O'Conner 
DAWG founder Nichola O’Connor spoke to the Andersonstown News about the services the addiction and suicide prevention charity provide.
“DAWG stands Drug Awareness, Adolescent Support, Warning Signs, Get Help,” she said. “It’s making our youth aware. DAWG was set up because we had a gap between the ages of sixteen to twenty-four within our youth. Society wasn’t understanding why we had a high rate of suicide in and around that age gap. DAWG was set up to address that age gap and it’s now just expanded.”
Colm Cullen, a volunteer with North Belfast based mental health charity TAMHI spoke about how fitness and mental wellbeing connect.
“We do a lot with schools, local youth groups we also work with football clubs. We mainly would be based around exercise. Exercise keeps you fit but also gives you a good frame of mind,” he said.
