Wellbeing Case Study: Delapré Wellbeing- a Place-Based Approach Through Heritage
A programme that utilises a former abbey’s historic rooms and vast parkland to address local health inequalities and foster holistic wellness.
About Delapré Abbey
Delapré Wellbeing is a multi – sector partnership bringing together colleagues working across heritage, cultural, academic, sport and public health. Delapré Abbey is a former Cluniac nunnery with 900 years of history and heritage of a place where healing, reflection and help for those in need has been taking place in the past and now it builds on it. The 1460 Battle of Northampton has taken place there too, so this registered battlefield provides 550 acres of green and blue opportunities as well.
Today, Delapré Abbey Preservation Trust honours that history through the Delapré
Wellbeing project, which worked with over 1500 people in 2023. With a commitment to partnership working and community co-creation, and utilising the abbey’s historic rooms and vast parkland, the trust aim to address local health inequalities and foster holistic wellness through its programmes.
A healthcare challenge
In Northamptonshire, health disparities are a stark reality, with many individuals facing barriers to accessing vital healthcare services. Supporting the countywide Social Prescribing efforts, Delapré Wellbeing is actively working to bridge this gap by offering a diverse range of activities and support services tailored to meet the needs of the local community through GP-, Community- and Self-Referral programmes. Delapré Wellbeing’s programmes, delivered in collaboration with partners, volunteers, and the community. This evidence-based framework helps shape Delapré’s offering alongside local community needs including needs assessment and co-production with Northampton Local Area Partnership and the Parish Council.
Projects at Delapré
The Green Happy Café
In March 2021, Delapré Abbey received £50k funding through the Thriving Communities Fund, made possible by the National Academy for Social Prescribing (NASP), Arts Council England, Historic England, Money and Pension Service, Natural England, NHS Charities Together and Sport England. The Green Happy Café project developed a wellbeing hub promoting green social prescribing in Northampton. The projects reached and improved the health of up to 3000 people through arts, culture, and physical activities utilising green and heritage spaces, with the help of partners, such as Action for Happiness Northamptonshire, General Practice Alliance, University of Northampton, Northamptonshire Sport, Space2Talk, Minderful and others.
The evaluation of Delapré’s Green Happy Café, delivered by the University of Northampton, gathered some very useful learnings, such as the importance of building relationships with existing groups through co – creation, and representing new targeted communities to achieve effective engagement. It became clear that there is need for additional time and resources for ensuring reach and access when establishing a new programme, as well as to create a healthcare directory to bring together data from external sources. Ensuring the needs of referral patients are met through course structure and leader skillsets was also an essential recommendation.
Northampton Active Wellbeing Quarter
Building on these learnings, Delapré Abbey was keen to find a sustainable way to continue and expand the services and activities offered to the community. This led to the vision for the next stage of the project development – the Northampton Active Wellbeing Quarter. This is an identifiable zone supporting physical activity, health and wellbeing promotion in Northampton, based around great part of the Delapré Abbey’s estate. It provided good quality, safe and accessible areas of greenspace that meets the need of the whole population of Northampton and the area, together with an improved active travel, green social prescription, and community sport facility development. This was achieved with collaborative work with partners like the University of Northampton, West Northamptonshire Council, British Cycling, Brackmills Industrial Estate, Public Health Northamptonshire and Northamptonshire Sport.
Further groups and events
Today, Delapre’s Wellbeing offer includes a fortnightly Menopause Café, monthly grief gatherings; fortnightly craft sessions; a monthly group for single parents; a monthly Happy Café involving group conversation and walk and talks; two monthly social sessions for young people with autism and carers; a weekly walk and talk; and free weekly yoga classes and walk and talks for cancer patients. Delapré also runs one-off events and projects, such as men’s health days, a wellbeing festival, and silent discos, through to Delapré Dig - a community wellbeing archaeology dig run with MOLA (Museum of London Archaeology), supporting 12 people recruited through Social Prescribing Link Workers to learn new skills and build confidence. Delapré Wellbeing programmes are designed to promote physical, emotional, and social wellbeing for all.
'Stable Future'
Following all this, in 2024 Delapré Abbey secured funding from the Architectural Heritage Fund (AHF) and the National Lottery Heritage Fund (NLHF) to create a dedicated Wellbeing Hub in the space of its former stables. The 'Stable Future' project envisages the hub to have a focus on providing facilities and creating a destination for wellbeing, which draws people from across the county. It will host Dealpre’s planned educational and exhibition space, together with a local GP office and practice, local social prescribers, chiropodists and physiotherapists, with space to run and develop other community-centred programmes, including an incubation hub for a variety of small local business and a co-working office space.
Impact and testimonials
At the heart of Delapré’s success lies the power of partnership, which includes an impressive array of key local organisations, such as General Practice Alliance, Northamptonshire Sport, MacMillan Cancer, Trilogy Active, Action for Happiness, Space2Talk, En-fold, Gingerbread, University of Northampton, Northampton Active Quarter, Public Health at West Northamptonshire Council, and Far Cotton and Delapre Community Council. Together, they have forged an alliance dedicated to help people find solace, strength, and solidarity, as the following testaments prove:
I came in not knowing how to be and left feeling like me.
Each week, I felt more alert and more active by the end of the session than I did on arrival. I also felt the benefits of following an interest and of spending time outdoors in a lovely environment. I was proud to talk to our grandchildren about the archaeology - and pleased that they wanted to have a go themselves!
The space it provides is such an amazing asset to the marginalised and isolated Autistic young people and adults, its location provides accessible, welcoming space in a setting that helps promote mental health and wellbeing.