From listening, to movement that lasts - Move More Communities

Pipyn Actif began as a whole-system approach to support healthier futures for families across Cardiff — focusing not only on movement, but also on creating healthy eating habits in young families and improving access to nutritious food. At its heart, it is about shaping environments where families can thrive.

One of the initiatives growing from this work is Move More Communities (Move More with Mum), which complements the wider Pipyn Actif programme by focusing specifically on enabling movement within everyday life. Through this work, we are partnering with communities across Cardiff’s Southern Arc to make physical activity feel accessible, relevant, and part of normal family routines.

We didn’t begin with a fixed programme. We began by listening.

Working alongside the Women’s Advocacy Group in Grangetown, the Active Young People team set out to understand the barriers many young families face. Confidence, time, cost, and cultural expectations often influence whether physical activity feels possible or appropriate. Our aim has always been to support opportunities that feel culturally relevant, inclusive, and genuinely appealing to the women and families we work with.

Move More with Mum started as a simple weekly session for mothers and their children, but it quickly became much more. It created a safe and welcoming space where trust and connection could grow, and where women felt able to prioritise their own wellbeing. As participation increased, so did the sense of shared ownership and enthusiasm for continuing physical activity within the community.

Through this journey, we began to see something powerful. Cultural norms around movement started to shift, and the idea of physical activity as something separate or “extra” began to fade. Families started to value movement more, and it became something that could be shared, enjoyed, and embedded into daily life.

As relationships deepened and interest grew, the programme naturally expanded beyond Grangetown. Move More Communities is now reaching into Splott through a mother and baby group, as well as working with Al-Ikhlas Community Centre and Mosque in Adamsdown. This growth has been driven not by design alone, but by trust, word of mouth, and communities wanting to be part of something that feels meaningful to them. The programme continues to expand as new connections are formed.

Alongside this growth, there has been a strong focus on sustainability. Through the collaboration with the Women’s Advocacy Group, four women from Grangetown and Riverside are now training to become Pilates instructors. Their involvement represents an important step towards creating community-led provision that can continue long into the future. As their training develops, we continue to support them in establishing and leading their own sessions through our mentorship programme, while also providing engaging movement opportunities for their children so that families remain active together.

In response to needs raised by the women themselves, we also introduced a six-week pelvic floor course, combining education and guided practice. This has helped maintain engagement, build confidence, and support women at an important stage of their health journey, while the newly trained instructors prepare to take on greater leadership.

This is what Pipyn Actif looks like in practice. It is not about delivering programmes to communities, but about working alongside them to create change that feels relevant, sustainable, and owned from within.

Through Move More Communities, we are seeing how movement can become part of everyday life, how barriers can begin to break down, and how families can be supported to value both physical activity and healthier lifestyles more broadly.

And this is just the beginning.