Driving 2 Health
"It was a sea change for many of the taxi drivers involved, improving their self-esteem and confidence, as well as their health"
Community Sports Officer Tommy Scullion
Taxi drivers in Derry have gone from flabby to fabby thanks to Awards for All funding
Taxi drivers aren’t known for being trim – long hours sitting behind the wheel, grabbing a bite on the hoof, they all add up to an unhealthy lifestyle which for many cabbies means more extra pounds on the waistline than in the pockets.
But thanks to £10,000 from the Awards for All programme, North and West Taxi Proprietors has been able to help taxi drivers take control and steer themselves in a new direction.
The group used the grant to give drivers the chance to participate in a six-month healthy lifestyle programme to improve their health and well-being.
Eamon O’Donnell, Development Worker for the group, who works as a taxi driver in the Derry area, said: “Taxi drivers in the area suffer from poor health due to long hours, poor wages and a life that involves just sitting in a taxi all day long. They don’t get any exercise and they just end up eating rubbish.
“Local taxi drivers were invited along for free health checks and the findings showed that that they were living a very poor lifestyle. As a result this programme was set up to try to benefit their health and turn their lifestyles around.
"The Driving 2 Health Course involved 20 local drivers over a six-month period. They devoted three hours a week to the programme at first, with one hour in a circuit class at the gym, one hour in a nutritional class and one hour with a personal trainer.”
Community Sport Officer for Bogside and Brandywell Health Forum, Tommy McCallion, was the man charged with transforming the taxi drivers from flabby into fabby. “They were a brilliant group to work with, we had a lot of fun despite the issues being intense."
"For many of them going into the gym was a totally new environment, but they stuck with it, and many of them are still going."
