Talk to each other! That is the message from Farnham and Bordon MP Greg Stafford at a Health Fair which he organised at Farnham Leisure Centre on Friday, November 14.

There were 41 stalls in the sports hall, each dedicated to some aspect of health, social care and general wellbeing, from pet therapists to podiatrists, first aiders to fitness providers and all manner of other health and wellbeing providers.

The idea for the fair had sprung from the questions which Greg Stafford regularly receives about health.

He said: “My inbox is full of people both from established organisations and constituents who want to know what is provided in our area. It is not just constituents who don’t know what we have here.

“Organisations don’t talk to each other perhaps as much as we’d like, so part of the health fair was for those organisations to talk to each other so that hopefully we can get much better and joined-up healthcare and social care in this constituency.”

One of the biggest challenges that Greg Stafford perceives in the area is how to support an aging population, and to that end there were organisations such as Farnham Assist, which supports older people, and the Hoppa Bus which is used by many who are retired.

He said: “People want to be able to age better and help their relatives to do so as well and there is a lack of understanding of what is out there.”

The fair also took a holistic approach, looking at mental and emotional wellbeing as well as physical. Greg Stafford added: “I didn’t realise how much of mental health can be helped if you improve your physical health. It is not mental health versus physical health; the two are so inextricably linked that you need to treat both.”