Promoting the health benefits of being musical: Playing for Cake
Playing for Cake is a community group based in North Norfolk. They were formed in 2016 as a Community Interest Company (CIC) by a group of local musicians, led by Tina Blaber and George Crawley.
Their aim is to promote the health benefits of singing and playing instruments, particularly amongst those with diagnosed conditions that could benefit most from these.
These health benefits include an improvement in mental health and wellbeing from trying something new and gaining a new skill, but also physical health benefits of improving breathing control, and improvements in speech.
Playing for Cake approached Active Norfolk for help in applying for the Together Fund in order to deliver a community-based Singing for Breathing course.
This was designed to help people manage breathlessness (generally as a result of diagnosed lung conditions), increase physical activity and improve the quality of life.
The Aim
After approaching North Norfolk Locality Officer Sean Pasque through the local Health and Wellbeing partnerships, it was established that the proposed project would address the local priority of increasing and making physical activities more accessible to the local community. It also tackled ICB priorities around respiratory issues.
The services they offer aim to target particular audiences, and their carers such as people living with Parkinson’s, dementia and lung conditions or breathlessness.
Playing for Cake applied for £2965 worth of funding, which was allocated to cover the cost of delivering a Singing for Breathing course to help people managing breathlessness. This course aims to run 2-3 times a year.
The Challenges
Whilst acknowledging that funding applications are generally time consuming, Playing for Cake praised the efforts of Sean Pasque.
Sean and the locality team used their expertise and familiarity with the funding process to support Playing for Cake through the application process, and ensuring it was as easy as possible.
Another challenge acknowledged was the need for constant advertising, and being on the lookout for future funding to ensure the continuation of the project. This, alongside limited capacity from trained health-leaders and administrators meant the team had to manage their time wisely in order to make the best use of the funding.
Sean has been amazing! Having a local, personal contact to discuss aspects of the bid and help shape it made such a difference.
Tina Blaber, Playing for Cake
The Approach
What was the funding used for?
The funding was allocated to ensure the Singing for Breathing courses could run. This included paying for venue hire, course-leaders and other similar expenses. It also enabled Tina and the gang to commit more time to recruiting people and liaising with the local pulmonary rehabilitation team.
Engaging participants and health professionals
The initial 10-week course offered the opportunity for some assessment and evaluation. Through this, the team could clearly show the benefits to those who had taken part.
This proved excellent for promotional purposes, as it enabled Playing for Cake to encourage new participants to sign up. By sharing evidence, local health professionals were willing to offer more referrals to the programme.
Planning for the future
Some careful accounting enabled the team to save money, which is being used to keep the sessions going. Donations from participants each week enable Playing for Cake to bridge the gap. Now they are seeking funding from other sources having built a strong evidence-base for the sessions.
The team are hoping that they will be commissioned to provide the service locally. This is based on the fact the sessions could help relieve system pressures by providing an alternative route for people to manage their conditions and improve their physical and mental health.
The Outcomes: Playing for Cake
Playing for Cake have reported some excellent outcomes, and are very happy with the amount they’ve achieved through the funding. They collected participant feedback after the initial 10-week course; the main results of which are as follows:
- 83% of participants felt more confident in managing their breathlessness after the course.
- 75% reported less reliance on GPs and health professionals. There was also a reported reduction in the use of prescribed medications such as reliever inhalers.
- 55% reported increased physical activity. These people talked generally about how they could sustain activities for longer now they managed their breathing better.
- 50% reported feeling lower levels of anxiety or feeling low..
The real measure of success, however, is that the participants have elected to keep this group running! It is now a regular weekly class funded by participants’ voluntary donations or other fundraising by Playing for Cake. The providers hope this will continue for the longer term.
“I can now be physically active for longer. Previous I could do 10-15 minutes of gardening at a time, and now I do 30-45 minutes.”
Playing for Cake participant
“The exercises have helped a great deal. It has strengthened my chest and helped me understand how I can manage my breathlessness better.”
Playing for Cake participant
Find out more
Playing for Cake worked with Active Norfolk to submit a successful funding application through the Together Fund.
Whilst applications for this fund have now closed, you can see some of the other funding pots available below.
You can also find out more about the provider by visiting their website.