Healthy town public meeting this wednesday

Athlone has been chosen as the 2015 Irish Times Pfizer Healthy Town.

The title, part of a joint initiative between the Irish Times and Pfizer Healthcare, will see various events take place in the town over an eight week period aimed at showing everyone, no matter what age you are or where you live, ways to improve health and general wellbeing.

The project will be officially launched on Wednesday, April 22 next at 6pm in Sheraton Hotel, Athlone with an information meeting for local community groups and organisations, Athlone’s Town Manager, Pat Keating, explained to members at last week’s monthly Athlone Municipal District meeting.

Invitations have been sent to a large number of local organisations,however, anyone who has not received one, and is interested in taking part in the project should contact the council ahead of the meeting, added the council official.

It’s expected the information meeting will detail a schedule of fitness activities, nutritional advice, events and health checks over the course of the two-month long project, as well as talks on subjects such as stress management and healthy eating.

Portlaoise held the title of Ireland’s healthy town for 2014, with the Irish Times featuring healthy town events and activities in its weekly Health + Family supplement, and regular updates on their website of progress on healthy living initiatives and events in the town.

The healthy town project is designed to cater for every part of the community and varied levels of health and fitness. Now in its fourth year, the programme, combines health promotion events, information meetings and physical activity sessions to encourage people in the chosen town to improve their overall health, with all events free of charge.