Three Test & Learns getting Barking and Dagenham moving this autumn

A Test & Learn is a small, time-limited project where a local organisation tries a new way of helping people move, and everyone learns from what happens. Three are running across the borough this autumn, and you can find every open session on What's on.

Gentle exercise at Heath Park

Independent Living Agency is running six sessions at Heath Park Community Centre for people who would not usually call themselves active. It starts gently, with introductions, arts, crafts and games, then tai chi, chair and floor yoga and a personal trainer taster, and finishes outdoors with a walk or run at Eastbrookend Country Park, then tea and coffee.

Places are through the centre. If gentle is what you are after, there are more easy ways in on What's on, from chair yoga to tea dances.

Fuel, Move at the Rivergate Centre

JDS and Triangoals Youth FC are using football to build more than fitness: confidence, teamwork and wellbeing. Tuesday sessions are for ages 11 and over, Thursdays for 14 and over, from 6pm to 8pm at the Rivergate Centre on Minter Road.

Scroll Less, Move More at Make It Barking

Every Friday from 4pm to 6pm, JDS runs a youth-led session for ages 12 and over that mixes movement with simple conversations about wellbeing, routines and self-care, and asks young people what would actually get them off their screens. Find it with the rest of the youth sessions on What's on.

How we'll know what worked

Each session has a check-in poster on the door. People tap "I'm here", with no names and no app, so the projects can see how many came, how many were new and how many came back. There's more on how check-ins work and what we do with your information in our FAQs, and we'll share what the projects find in stories here.

Run a group yourself? List your activity and it shows up on What's on, or get in touch and we'll help. For everything else, sign up for the monthly email.