Sleeping Well at Ordsall Hall
Since 2022 we have worked with our partners Ordsall Hall in Salford. The project takes the academic research of the Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World team and turns it into practical, hands-on workshops. The first phase of the work was funded by the Wellcome Trust. You can read more about this phase of the project here.
From October 2024 until September 2025, Dr Anna Fielding will be working with Ordsall Hall on a new project, funded by the AHRC Impact Acceleration Account at the University of Manchester. This project will build on the findings of the previous project, where lots of people noticed that taking part in creative activities at Ordsall Hall had improved their wellbeing. People really appreciated time spent outside, learning new information and skills, and connecting with the local environment and community.
We are working with Salford community health sector partners Living Well and Wellbeing Matters Social Prescribing. The programme also aims to help Ordsall Hall to become an important centre for wellbeing activities within the heart of Salford. For more information on our work at Ordsall Hall, see https://ordsallhall.com/whats-on/sleeping-well/
What is it?
The new Sleeping Well at Ordsall Hall project will run from October 2024 to September 2025
We’ll be working with health partners and community groups in Ordsall to offer a series of workshops to people living in Salford.
The workshops will explore how Tudor people understood their sleep, health and wellbeing through craft, gardening and cooking activities.
We want to find out if learning new things through creative activities helps people feel better and improve their wellbeing.
What will I be doing?
All of the workshops are designed to share information about how people took care of their health and wellbeing in Tudor times. This includes what they believed, things that they made and activities they did to help them sleep.
All this information is shared through practical, hands on activities. For example you might be:
- Making an apple curd
- Remaking Tudor sleep remedies with dried herbs, flowers and spices
- Making dipped beeswax candles
- Weaving willow in the garden
What have other people said about the course?
“I’m glad I’ve done it and I do feel like I’ve benefited from it.”
“It’s a good thing for me because it’s got me out, and I’m mixing with people, and I’m learning a lot and I would encourage them [others to join the sessions]”
“I focus more positively now…focussing on what I’m doing and no negative thinking. That’s what it’s done for me…It’s coming here that’s done that.”
“It’s really fulfilling coming here. I look forward to it.”
“I enjoyed making the mousse that we made, with the apples. The hands-on idea of making something that was hundreds of years old.”
“It’s made me re-evaluate, that I’ve actually got some self-worth, you know, in me.”
When and where is it?
The sessions run on Tuesdays and Sundays from 1-3pm at Ordsall Hall in Salford. Speak to Anna.Fielding@manchester.ac.uk to find out which session is available for you.
We will provide bus and tram vouchers to cover your travel costs. The video below shows you how to find the entrance to the hall.
How do I take part?
- If you are currently engaged with Wellbeing Matters, talk to your community connector or email Emma.eastwood@salfordcvs.co.uk
- If you are currently engaged with Living Well, talk to your peer supporter or email Heather.Varin@gmmh.nhs.uk
- Otherwise email Anna.Fielding@manchester.ac.uk to get involved
The Team
The team
Dr Anna Fielding is the Project Officer. She will work with Ordsall Hall and is employed by the University of Manchester. You can find out more information on the project by emailing her at Anna.Fielding@manchester.ac.uk
Professor Sasha Handley is the Project Lead. She leads the project Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World, a Wellcome Trust funded project which explores how people engaged in sleep care practices to safeguard their sleep in the period 1500-1750. The Sleeping Well research project provides the academic research used in this public engagement project.
Caroline Alexander is the Creative Health Lead for Salford Community Leisure (SCL) and works closely with local health sector partners to address wellbeing and emotional health through creative health approaches at SCL and Ordsall Hall.
Eleanor Shaw is the Project Officer for the Sleeping Well in the Early Modern World project. She helps run the project and works with Anna to evaluate and gain ethical approval for the project.
The project will work with local health sector partners Living Well Salford and Wellbeing Matters Social Prescribing to design and recruit participants to the workshops.
