Reconsidering Rookwood
Now that the local elections are over it must be time for HDC to reconsider the Rookwood issue.
We have come out of lockdown and life is slowly adapting to the ‘new normal’.
It has been a time to reassess our lives and how we choose to live them, achieve a better life/work balance and most importantly how to maintain the best possible health, both physical and mental.
As an educator for many years in all subjects relating to how people can actively maintain good health, I visited the current NHS website dealing with this subject, as for me, wellbeing is absolutely central to the argument for keeping the golf course at Rookwood open.
The physical benefits of golf are pretty obvious – we have always been encouraged to walk and this advice, of course, stays the same.
As for one’s mental health the advice is also very clear and I refer to what the NHS call the ‘five steps to wellbeing’:
1. Connect with other people. That is what social golf allows on a regular basis. A relaxed chat whilst enjoying a purposeful walk with friends.
2. Be physically active. Physical activity causes chemical changes in the brain which can ‘help to positively change your mood’. For people of all ages, and particularly for older people, a four-and-a-half-mile walk plus the relaxed swinging of a golf club provides just that.
3. Learn new skills. Anyone who has played golf will understand that every round is a learning experience.
4. Give to others. Golfers offer a support network for others in an informal way…. and each will often buy their fellow golfers a coffee and a snack both during and after a round of golf at Rookwood.
5. Pay attention to the present moment (mindfulness). A fourand-a-half-hour round of golf certainly requires concentration, mental focus and appreciating every special moment. It helps to build confidence and selfesteem.
In addition to what the NHS advise, HDC state on their website that Rookwood, as a leisure venue, ‘is public payand-play golf at its best’. It goes on to say that ‘the 18hole course is exceptionally well drained, presented and maintained giving year-round play in a picturesque setting’.
Bearing all the above in mind and thinking of all the hundreds of people who benefit and indeed should benefit from Rookwood for years to come, I send a heartfelt plea to HDC to choose an alternative site to satisfy their building needs instead of depriving so many of this wonderful, local, healthpromoting facility open to all.
Surely the wellbeing of your people is paramount in this decision but also consider the ultimate savings for the NHS.
CHRISTINE PHILPOTT
The Drive, Ifold