WomenZone are delighted to announce the opening of their new play gym and healthy café from Monday 17 May 2021, thanks to funding of £99,600 through Better Start Bradford’s Innovation Fund.

Through lockdown, WomenZone, who are based at Hubert Street, Bradford, have been busy developing their new baby and toddler play gym called ‘The Play Gym’ and their new healthy café called ‘Hubert Street Kitchen’ for parents and under fours living in the BD3, BD4 and BD5 area of Bradford.

The main aim of The Play Gym and Hubert Street Kitchen is to create ‘big little moments’ of interaction, learning and play between parent and baby. There will also be a playworker based at The Play Gym to promote parent and baby interactions, as research shows that these positive interactions have a great impact on early brain development and ongoing learning, leading to happier and healthier lives as adults.

Sadia Sajid, Development Manager at WomenZone, said: “After months of hard work, The Play Gym and Hubert Street Kitchen are finally here! These new spaces will provide valuable play and healthy eating opportunities for families, encouraging parents to learn practical techniques in which they can support their child’s development. As a result of this project, we hope to enhance the relationship between parents and their children to build lasting bonds. We would like to thank Better Start Bradford’s Innovation Fund, without which we would not have been able to offer these exciting opportunities to local families.”

Gill Thornton, Head of Programme at Better Start Bradford, said: “Our Innovation Fund has provided an exciting opportunity for our community to test and learn new approaches to support and enhance the first years of life.

“By providing a play facility and healthy café, WomenZone are not only providing fun, creative spaces for families with young children, but are also providing parents and carers with the opportunity to access support, practical training and advice.”

During their Launch Week, which runs from Monday 17 May to Thursday 20 May, 9.30am – 2.30pm, WomenZone will run one-hour tours of the centre, where the public will get exclusive access to The Play Gym and Hubert Street Kitchen, Her Gym and get involved with the family activities on offer.

WomenZone are also offering exclusive taster offers and freebies for Her Gym, Hubert Street Kitchen and more during the Launch Week only. WomenZone has recently gone through a rebrand to transform their branding to better reflect their expansion of the centre, diverse communities they serve and the future direction of the organisation. WomenZone are now more than a Community Centre with Her Gym, The Play Gym, Hubert Street Kitchen and much more. WomenZone are excited to take their aims of empowering women across the district to the next level with the new facilities.

To book a tour, visit www.womenzone.co.uk or call 01274 665270, with your preferred time and the quantity of tickets needed (every person will require an advance ticket, including babies and children). To keep everyone safe and in line with Government guidance around COVID-19, WomenZone are accepting ten people per time slot, so book early to avoid disappointment.

Bradford charity Womenzone has supported over 100 low-income families in the local community through online support services during the coronavirus pandemic.

The charity is also working with Bradford Council to arrange support for 200 vulnerable women and girls who could be experiencing loneliness or isolation during the lockdown and offer support in a variety of languages.

Womenzone have provided resources from national charities to help the local community. They have worked with the Muslim Women’s Council to provide food parcels, Sport England to deliver online activities and the Literacy Trust, who donated books for children and families.

They are also offering online fitness classes, meetings and creating activity packs for users, including a specific scheme to contact over 55s who may be isolated as a result of social distancing.

Volunteers from the charity have been organising talks on Zoom, Whatsapp and posting on social media to keep users up to date on the latest coronavirus news and to provide information on upcoming events.

Womenzone Centre Co-ordinator, Humma Nizami, said: “Womenzone has helped communities across Bradford to maintain their mental and physical wellbeing through a range of online and virtual services including providing telephone befriending support to lonely and isolated women, distributing activity packs and food vouchers to vulnerable and low-income families who on free school meals, delivering fitness classes and healthy eating, supporting our over 55’s wellbeing group on using online tools such as Zoom and WhatsApp video call.

“The majority of our service users are from South Asian backgrounds and have language barriers due to English not being their first language. Therefore it was important that we continued to support them through our helpline and Digital Wellbeing Service where our staff offered advice and information on Covid-19 in a range of languages which worked well as we were able to reassure them and provide up to date advice release through the Government’s daily briefings.

“We are following the Government social distancing guidelines to ensure the safety of all our service users, staff and volunteers which at the moment is our main priority. We hope to re-open our centre safely in the next few months once lockdown has eased with clear guidance from the Government.”

Womenzone is based in Bradford Moor and is formed of volunteers from the local community who support women from the South Asian community, including people who have recently arrived in the community as well as first and second-generation migrants.