Pictured: Coventry City Council's sustainable communities officer Andy Littlewood was encouraging residents to lead a more sustainable lifestyle and to get involved in 'grow your own' projects at the Whitefriars' Get More out of Life event

Almost 200 Coventry residents were keen to 'get more out of life' when they attended an event to learn more about life opportunities being offered across the city.  

Residents attended a free 'Get More out of Life' event organised by Whitefriars Housing on Thursday, August 18, for people to learn about services they can access from support and advice agencies in Coventry.

From advice on health and wellbeing, homes and communities, legal and financial issues, getting online, and jobs and education, there was information for everyone to access.

Resident Margaret Gale, from Bell Green, found out about the Breathe Easy charity, which helps people with breathing difficulties. She said: "I am going to get involved in Breathe Easy because I have breathing problems and they can offer advice and support to people like me. 

"I am also interested in some other volunteering opportunities I found out about. It was a great event for Whitefriars to show the variety of things it does and the partners it works with. 

"I was involved in the Mossdale Improvement Project, run by Whitefriars and the Council, and the DVD showing the work we have done was being shown at the event. That was a great way to show people how they can get involved and make a positive impact on their community and learn new skills."

Chair of Whitefriars Mick Rawson said: "We organised this event because we felt that there are so many opportunities out there for people in Coventry to enhance their lives, but that it's not always easy to find out about them.  

"As part of our campaign to encourage people to get more out of their lives, we thought it would be useful for local people if we could get lots of different support, advice and interest groups together in one room on one day to make it easy for everyone to get information that would be useful for them."

Organisations that were on hand to offer advice with Whitefriars' own finance, employment, training and housing teams included Coventry Citizens Advice, Coventry City Council's Community Health and Jobs teams, the Credit Union, Voluntary Actions Coventry, Groundwork West Midlands, The Herbert Art Gallery, Henley College, Coventry Food Bank and the National Apprentice Scheme.

Andy Littlewood, sustainable communities officer at Coventry City Council, was showing people how they can get involved in community 'grow your own' initiatives and other sustainability projects across the city.

"I spoke to people about getting involved in community growing projects and there is already a group of people in Stoke Aldermoor who are keen to do something. It has been useful to speak to people and raise their awareness about sustainable living," he said.

The event was part of a campaign being run by WM Housing, of which Whitefriars is a part, to work with all Coventry residents to improve skills, employability, communities and life opportunities. 

Director of housing services Rachel Hobbs said: "In these tough times, with the loss of jobs and rising costs of living, we want to make sure that Coventry residents can be helped to access the information that they need to get more out of life."