Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2014
Your Royal Highness, my Lords, Ladies and Gentlemen.
It is now time to celebrate the achievements of some outstanding grassroots
sport and recreation organisations, projects and schemes.
Our Community Sport and Recreation Awards have been running in various
guises for over 20 years now and during that time it’s been our pleasure to
witness countless examples of how sport and recreation make people’s lives
better.
Volunteers power British sport and recreation. Over two million people
regularly give up their time for the love of their sport or recreation, and
because of them our sector blossoms and flourishes.
They provide the foundation for widespread participation and the platform for
elite success. They are the glue binding local people together. And ultimately
they are the reason that we, representative and governing bodies, are here
today.
The six winners of this year’s awards display remarkable characteristics which
enhance and enrich the organisations, clubs and communities around them. It
is organisations and people like this to whom all of us in the sport and
recreation sector are greatly indebted.
So who better to present the awards to today’s winners than His Royal
Highness?
We are delighted that our President has agreed to present each winner with
their award as well as a cheque to make a contribution towards their
continuing hard work. You can read more about each club’s achievements in
your programme.
And without further ado, I’ll start with our first award category, the Volunteer
Management Award, sponsored by the GB Group.
This year’s winner has mastered volunteer management, offering their
volunteers training, skills and rewards to let them know that they are all valued
for the hard work they put in.
From investing in training courses to helping parents qualify as officials, this
swimming club is an example to all others.
The winner of this year’s Volunteer Management Award is Retford Swimming
Club and I would like to ask Lucy Palfreyman to come up and collect the award,
alongside Lee Hughes from the GB Group.
Next up is the School Links Award. Most of us first catch the bug for sport and
recreation at primary schools, but translating that youthful exuberance into
adult participation can be a tricky task.
This year’s winner works with more than 200 young people each week through
their school boxing programme.
Working in areas of financial deprivation they have made a real difference to
young lives – 78% of children who were previously committing antisocial
behaviour and crimes no longer do so after attending the sessions –and 98%
who attended their summer camp say that they are now less likely to become
part of a gang. Extraordinary results.
It gives me great pleasure to announce Empire Fighting Chance as winner of
the School Links award. May I invite Martin Bisp of Empire fighting chance to
collect the award.
Our next award category is Green Thinking Award, sponsored by Utility Aid.
The Green Thinking award is given to the club, programme or initiative which
displays outstanding concern for the environment.
This year’s winner displays an unwavering commitment to sustainability, from
composting all organic material and sourcing recycled materials to generating
power from solar panels. This organization really does go above and beyond in
its quest to protect the environment.
The Winner of the Green Thinking Award, sponsored by Utility Aid, is The
Castle Climbing Centre and we’d like to welcome Audrey Seguy to collect the
award, alongside Giles Hankinson from Utility Aid.
Now we come on to the Innovative Project Award.
The Innovative Project Award celebrates those inspiring programmes, schemes
and initiatives that so many community clubs undertake to get people enjoying
their activity.
Now you may think that putting swords in the hands of young offenders is not
a great idea. This year’s winner has shown that it can be – in the right
circumstances of course.
To date this fencing programme has given 800 youngsters from disadvantaged
backgrounds the chance to experience and enjoy fencing – teaching them how
to use intelligence over aggression, not just in fencing but in life.
I’m delighted to present this year’s Innovative Project Award to the North East
Regional Fencing’s Street Sword project. Please join me in welcoming Beth
Davidson on to the stage.
Our next category is the Professional Club Community Programme of the Year
Award, sponsored by the Professional Footballers Association.
Professional clubs bring delight and despair to countless spectators. Trust me,
as a Brentford fan, I know a lot about despair, but am currently riding the high
of delight as we celebrate promotion to the Championship for only the second
time in fifty years.
It is to the credit of professional football clubs that they have embraced the
responsibility conferred by their place in the community. This year’s winner
can really claim to be at the heart of their community.
Its 40 full-time staff administer and deliver programmes for more than 24,000
adults and children every year – programmes which get people healthier and
more active, raise attainment in schools, develop talent pathways and
strengthen their local community.
Not only that, they have also innovated in opening one of the first Alternative
Provision Free Schools. using the power of sport to help reintegrate young
people back into mainstream education.
The winners of the Professional Club Community Programme of the Year,
sponsored by the Professional Footballers Association, is Derby County
Football Club.
Can I please ask Simon Carnall from Derby County Football Club to join me on
stage to receive the award, alongside John Hudson from the PFA.
Finally, the Community Sport and Recreation Award Overall Winner.
The Overall Winner award celebrates the club, programme or scheme which
represents the very best that sport and recreation offers society.
This year’s winners are a club that has experienced extraordinary growth. In
the past five years it has blossomed from a group of 12 to over 600, with the
same core group of volunteers at the helm driving them forward.
Since opening their own Olympic standard facility, they have provided the
platform for many of their members to reach national and international level,
but they’ve also been inclusive of everyone who just fancied having a go.
Forming links with other clubs, schools, community groups and the local
authority, this club constantly endeavours to share their love of gymnastics
with as many people as possible.
The Community Sport and Recreation Awards Overall Winner is Irvine Bay
Gymnastics Club. Can I please ask Amanda Boucher to come up and collect
their well-deserved award.
So well done to Irvine Bay Gymnastics Club and thank you to all of our winners
today, as well as to all of those who submitted nominations, all of which were
excellent entries.
The positive effect that these organisations have on our national life must not
be underestimated and we hope that these awards go some way towards
giving them the recognition they deserve.
Thank you to everyone and, in particular, to his Royal Highness for presenting
the awards.