Spring brings change...
Welcome to the latest edition of our newsletter which I hope you will find informative and useful.
As I write this the gales are blowing hard but spring is definitely just around the corner. There is a similar sense in relation to sport and physical activity. A wind of change is blowing through the delivery system and Sport England and new opportunities for sport and physical activity in school and community are emerging.
In recent weeks we have seen and supported the submission to Sport England of action plans for new Community Sport and Physical Activity Networks (CSPANs) in the Forest of Dean and Cheltenham and are now awaiting a response. Stroud are hot on their heels and we hope that Gloucester, Cotswold and Tewkesbury will follow not long after. If these applications are successful they will bring some much needed investment into local projects and programmes.
You may remember from July 2007 Gordon Brown's announcement of an additional £100 million investment into sport for young people. Part of this investment will be to create a '5 hour offer' for young people. The offer will be made up of 2 hours high quality curriculum Physical Education and 3 hours of sport beyond the curriculum delivered by a range of partners.
We have the responsibility to coordinate the delivery of the programme in Gloucestershire which, starting in September 08, will bring a total of £325,250 of new funding over the next three years for involving young people in the County in sport and physical activity. The planning process for using this investment starts later this month with a workshop for invited representatives and will be a major focus for us between now and the summer.
In the summer we will all be glued to our TVs (after, of course, we have done our daily 30 minutes!) watching the efforts of our Olympians and Paralympians in Beijing. At the closing ceremony the attention of the world will shift to London 2012 and we will all have four short years to make maximum advantage out of a once in a lifetime opportunity. The announcement of the potential training camp venues has put Gloucestershire on the 2012 map and is a great start to securing a legacy for the county.
It is going to be challenging and exciting and spring is in the air…!
John Stevens
Chief Executive Officer
Sport England South West Regional Conference
Over 250 delegates attended the South West Sport England conference at Centre Parcs at Longleat on 27th and 28th February and there was good representation from across Gloucestershire.
Two very busy days included a series of workshops and keynote presentations from high profile speakers such as Olympic medallist Steve Parry, ex international swimmer and broadcaster Sharron Davies and hostage negotiator John Potter.
Sport England Chief Executive Jennie Price outlined the current thinking in the development of Sport England’s new strategy.
She saw a great opportunity for a leap forward with a focus on increasing participation, enhancing performance and lifting quality in the sports system. She also saw risks as well as opportunities and felt that the new strategy had a key part to play.
Jennie felt that we all faced a challenging period of change due to the impact of 2012 as it generated both positive and negative messages and effects. We also face lots of competition for people’s energy, time and money if we are to kick on from the flat-line 20% of the population who participate regularly. Jennie felt that we needed to touch 40 – 50% of the interested but infrequently active population in addition to the 20% that participate regularly.
She summarised the results of Sport England’s recent consultation as:
- A desire for Sport England to show leadership;
- Develop a sharper focus;
- Increase the efficiency and cost effectiveness of the delivery system and the individual organisations within it;
- Strengthen Sport England’s relationship with key stakeholders and join up with Youth Sport Trust, UKSport and Sportscoach UK;
- Set high standards for operations;
- Be rigorous but not bureaucratic in allocating and monitoring £250m of public funds.
In terms of overall direction she indicated that the aim will be:
To create a world leading community sports system with an emphasis on young people; talent development and achieving excellence.
Sport England would focus on sustaining and growing participation and national governing bodies will be at the heart of delivery. The base of the pyramid will be widened in terms of both actual numbers participating and participant circumstances (i.e. widening access).
For many delegates the highlight of the conference was an inspirational talk by John Potter. He engaged with the audience discussing negotiating skills and exploring how different people think and act.
Other inspirational keynote speakers included Dr John Bird (founder of the Big Issue), Dr Louise Makin (CEO of a major pharmaceutical company and the inspiration behind the “Journey Maker”, a group of individuals who come together to raise money for the Bendrigg Trust by participating in the annual three peaks sailing and mountain running event) and Olympic Champion Jonathan Edwards CBE, who each gave great personal insight into the challenges of leadership, partnership working and team-building.
Overall delegates felt that the conference had provided them with new energy and direction as well as an opportunity to lean from and reflect on others’ experience and to refresh and extend existing networks.
To view the presentations form the conference click here to go to the South West website where all the presentations are available to download.
Active Gloucestershire Good News Projects
During the Sport England Conference each of the region's County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) were asked to display example of projects from their county. To ensure this information gets out to the wider community we have published each of the 16 poster presentations displayed by Active Gloucestershire at the conference on our website for all to view. Please click here to go straight to the projects.
Sport England's 2008 - 2011 Strategy
We have all been waiting for an announcement clarifying Sport England’s future direction, following the sudden changes announced by James Purnell last November during his brief stint as Secretary of State at the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. The following statement was issued on the 14th March 2008:
“Sport England submitted, earlier this week, its headline proposals for its 2008-11 strategy to the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport and the Minister for Sport. I am delighted that they have indicated that they agree with the direction of travel and have tasked us with working up, and consulting on, a detailed delivery plan. The Sport England Board and the External Challenge Group, who are helping us develop our proposals, have also endorsed the headline strategy.
Sport England will operate at a strategic level working with and through national governing bodies drawing in other partners including local authorities. Sport England will have a strong national team, regional teams with a tighter focus and would work with county sport partnerships who will deliver specific outcomes.
This statement has been agreed with the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.”
Jennie Price, Chief Executive Sport England
On the face of it this looks like good news for the delivery system and the role of County Sports Partnerships within it. However more detail needs to emerge in relation to how local organizations will connect with national governing bodies and we will now have to wait for the production of the delivery plan. Equally nothing yet has emerged from the cross departmental review of physical activity.
What is clear however is that we will need to develop an even closer working relationship with individual national governing bodies than exists already. This has been anticipated within our draft 2008 - 09 business plan now with Sport England and will be a significant focus for our work in the next six months.
Board of Directors Update
The Board met on 14th February. Main items considered were:
Business Plan 2008 – 09
The Board reviewed and approved the draft business plan for submission to Sport England and agreed that it should be published on the Active Gloucestershire website once feedback had been received and it had been signed off at the April Board meeting.
Changes to Active Gloucestershire Board of Directors
The Board noted that Mrs Julie Tegg, Secretary of the Gloucestershire Playing Fields Association, had accepted their invitation to join the Board of Directors. Previously appointed as an Associate Director, Julie replaces Mr Malcolm Wharton, Principal of Hartpury College, who has left the Board due to the need to concentrate on a major redevelopment programme at the college.
The Board also noted the resignations of Mrs Gilly Salter and Mr David Richards. Gilly had indicated that she needed to spend more time on the recent growth of her business and her regional commitments with Netball Southwest. David was heavily involved, personally and professionally, in flood recovery work in the county and for the foreseeable future could no longer give the time required to be an effective member.
The Board agreed the advertising and recruitment process to fill the two vacancies and asked the Chair and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to implement this and report back.
Performance Management
The Board received a Sport England report reviewing the performance of the 7 County Sports Partnerships (CSPs) in the region against the regional targets established by Sport England and compared the performance of Active Gloucestershire with the other CSPs. The Board noted that this was the first time that this information had been provided by Sport England and welcomed the opportunities that it provided. They noted that similar reports would be made available in the future on a quarterly basis.
In a similar manner the Board noted progress against the targets within the Gloucestershire Local Area Agreement for which Active Gloucestershire had lead cross-cutting responsibility. To view the Quarter 3 Performance Report click here
Fundraising Initiative
The Board discussed a proposal to develop a fundraising initiative linked to 2012 and asked the CEO to investigate the legal and financial implications and likely response from potential funders and to report back at the next meeting.
Gloucestershire Sports Awards 2007
The Board received a presentation on the operation of the 2007 Awards and considered the lessons learnt. The presentation also outlined proposed arrangements for operating the 2008 awards on November 27th which the Board endorsed.
Step into Sport 2008
On Wednesday 13th February 2008 over 80 students from across Gloucestershire attended the 2008 Step into Sport Conference for Young Volunteers at Cheltenham College Junior School.
To view photos from the conference click here to go straight to the Step into Sport 2008 page of the Active Gloucestershire website.
During the day the students received several informative speeches from key volunteer personal in the county and region. Sue Cooper from Sport England opened the day with an inspirational keynote speech followed by a motivational speech from Elaine Hodgin of the Gloucestershire Volunteer Centres.
The delegates then set off in their groups to take part in several theory based workshops on Welfare in Sport, and the Step into Sport programme. After a healthy lunch the students were greeted by Sporting Champion, Rhys Williams European Silver Medallist in the 400m hurdles. Rhys spoke to the students about his career in sport and the influence he received from his teachers, coaches and volunteers, he made the point that without all of these people he may not have won his many medals. The afternoon section of the conference saw the delegates taking part in practical sessions lead by Rhys Williams, Carl Swaby, and Alison Croad, (from Active Gloucestershire) and Mark Tomlinson from British Blind Sport.
At the end of the day the students were given a final closing speech from Kate Bace a student ambassador for the Gloucester City School Sports Partnership. Kate talked about her experiences of being a young volunteer and how much she has gained from volunteering in sport.
Each student will now have started on their path to completing 50, 100 and 200 hours of volunteering in community sport in Gloucestershire. Good luck to all of those on the programme and hopefully we will see you at the 2008 Gloucestershire Sports Awards receiving your award for reaching 200 hours of active volunteering.
Running Sports Offical Partner
Active Gloucestershire is now an Official Partner of runningsports and on Tuesday 12th February attended an Official Partner Roadshow in Taunton. The roadshow highlighted the great work runningsports does for volunteers and club officials working in sport in the UK and how we (Active Gloucestershire) as an Official Partner Active Gloucestershire can work to improve opportunities for volunteers and club officials in the county.
Runningsports have revamped their products and services and set them out into three main strands. These are Governance and Administration; Finance and Funding; and Volunteers and Volunteer Management. In each of these three strands a number of different products and services are available including; Workshops, Workbooks and CDs, Quick Guides, Role Outlines and Top Tips. During 2008 runningsports will also be launching qualifications in Volunteer Management and Co-ordination.
As well as having Official Partners (National Governing Bodies, County Sports Partnerships, Local Authority Sport Development Units, Community Sports Networks) who organise and run workshops, runningsports also offer the opportunity for the club official, volunteer, administrator or individual to become a Network Member. Network Members will have direct access to free downloadable information from the website; receive an enewsletter to keep them updated, and have the opportunity to attend annual conferences. They will also receive a handy Network Members Guide. To find out more about becoming a Network Member click here.
A full list of the products and services runningsports offer can be found on the runningsports website: www.runningsports.org
Gloucestershire Disability Sport and Physical Activity Forum
On the 4th February representatives from across the county gathered to discuss how Gloucestershire could benefit from a Disability Sport and Physical Activity Forum.
Representatives in attendance were from a wide range of partners and organisations including, mainstream and disability sports clubs, athletes, leisure centre’s, Local Authorities, Gloucestershire County Council, National Star College, and National Governing Bodies of sport (NGBs).
The key objectives for the forum were agreed and are listed below:
a) A powerful voice for disability sport and physical activity within the county.
b) To increase the number of participation opportunities for disabled people.
c) To help secure a consistency of provision within the county by generating funding for disability sport and physical activity.
d) Develop and deliver county wide projects.
Additionally ideas such as, a county coaches training day (not sport specific); a disability sport conference; disability sports directory and affiliation to specific and relevant NGBs were also discussed as potential aims.
The overall feeling was that everyone came across the same challenges with developing sport and physical activity for disabled people. These included transport, levels of support (staff) and identifying target groups within the population. It was agreed that with a successful forum working together it would be easier to overcome these challenges.
A steering group was set-up to establish the forum as a constituted body. Once all the groundwork has been done the forum will be launched and will hopefully be a powerful organisation within Gloucestershire to develop disability sport and physical activity.
For further information about the Gloucestershire Disability Sport and Physical Activity Forum please do not hesitate to contact Anne Andersen, Sport and Physical Activity Development Officer for Disabled People on 01242715201 or keep up to date on www.activegloucestershire.org
Active Start - Making an Impact: Playzone at Whaddon Children's Centre
Olympic Champion Denise Lewis officially launched a pioneering new outdoor learning area and playground facility at Whaddon Children's Centre in Cheltenham on Wednesday 5th March. The custom-built space was designed by staff, children and parents in consultation with the Youth Sport Trust and Active Gloucestershire and hosts a range of equipment to encourage pre-school youngsters to get active and enjoy learning together outdoors.
The Playzone element has been funded by the Youth Sport Trust, and is one of two which have been opened in the country to encourage pre-school youngsters to get physically active. The space includes new line markings, target wall boards, monkey bars, climbing trees, a stage, trails, shelters, mud mound and a range of flexible play equipment.
Active Start Community Sports Coach Sarah Urquhart delivered fun physical activities throughout the day, supported by University of Gloucestershire first year Sports Education Students. The day began with staff, children, families and dignitaries participating in Wake and Shake activities including Denise Lewis and Kathy O’Mahony Head of Development at the County Council's Children and Young People’s Directorate. Nikki James a member of staff from Whaddon Children’s Centre led the Wake and Shake session after receiving training from Sarah.
Denise said: "It's a pleasure to see so many people here for a project that takes a lot of team work. My success started at nursery and school and it made me the person I am today. This will go a long way to start the children on the path to what will hopefully be healthy and active lives."
Active Start strives to impact children and family's health, wellbeing and levels of physical activity by delivering a comprehensive package of coaching and training. Active Gloucestershire coaches have been working with Whaddon and all other phase one Children's Centre Communities in Gloucestershire over the last year.
Sarah commented “We are providing ongoing training for the whole staff at Whaddon in using the Active Start programme to sustain opportunities and encourage the expansion of locally based activities. We have been providing weekly fun physical activity sessions where children and families can acquire fundamental movement skills. This day was a culmination of extensive team work as Denise highlighted, and by working in partnership with Whaddon Children's Centre, the Youth Sport Trust and the Gloucestershire Healthy Schools Team, Active Start is creating the foundation in these children to lead a physically active life.”
The work at Whaddon Children's Centre extends far beyond developing a fantastic outdoor play area.
Related Links: www.youthsporttrust.org/page/playzone/index.html
www.snugplay.co.uk/aboutSnug.html
For further details of the Playzone at Whaddon Project click here to download the PDF of the case study.
Regional Launch of the 2012 Training Camp Guide at Hartpury College
On the 3rd March Hartpury College hosted the regional launch of the London Organising Committee (LOCOG) Pre-Games Training Camp Guide.
Following an assessment process that amounted to an audit of high-quality facilities throughout the UK over 600 facilities will appear in the Guide which will be published at the Beijing Games. They were assessed against strict technical criteria such as the ability to offer high quality sports training facilities, experience of hosting elite teams, comfortable but affordable accommodation, the ability to offer appropriate catering, good transport links, access to a good hospital, and good sports science facilities.
The Guide contains sporting facilities right across the UK which will give teams and individual athletes a great selection of venues from which they can choose to prepare for the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. Facilities included range from well-known major sporting hubs, universities and independent schools, community facilities, and sport specific clubs.
The Guide will now be circulated to all National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and National Paralympic Committees (NPCs). These organisations will then decide where they base themselves or where to send individual athletes to prepare and acclimatise for London 2012. Facilities featured in the Guide now have to market their facilities directly to NOCs and NPCs.
In the South West, 60 venues are included, covering all sports to feature during the 2012 Olympic Games. Gloucestershire has secured 9 possible venues, catering for 12 sports and is now very firmly on the 2012 map.
To the right are details of camps in Gloucestershire.
For the full story visit our Latest News page, click here.
Regional 2012 Summit - Plymouth 13th March 2008
The University of Plymouth was the venue for the latest regional summit on Team South West’s plans for the region to benefit from the London Olympic and Paralympic Games. During the day delegates had an opportunity to hear from Bill Morris, LOCOG’s Director of Cultural Programmes and Ceremonies; Lord Coe, Chair of the Organising Committee; Tessa Jowell, Olympics Minister and Tom Daley and other national standard performers and their coach from the Plymouth High Performance Centre for Diving.
A particular focus for the day was to learn more about plans for the Cultural Olympiad and how local initiatives can connect (click here to view the Cultural Olympiad Background Briefings).
On 24th August at about 2.30pm the Olympic flag will be passed to the Mayor of London at the closing ceremony for Beijing. This marks the point when London becomes the official Olympic City and the Cultural Olympiad wants the country to celebrate and recapture the excitement and energy released on the 5th July 2005, when London won the bid, by including a 2012 theme in any planned bank holiday events. Similarly when the Paralympic handover occurs on the 17th September there will be an opportunity to hold 2012 themed events in schools.
The other main focus provided delegates with an opportunity to consider updating or amending the county legacy plans that are in various stages of development across the region (to view the Team South West 2012 and the County 2012 Legacy Plans click here). Following on from the summit the Gloucestershire plan will now be reviewed and the current working group refreshed by Active Gloucestershire, Gloucestershire 1st and the Gloucestershire Strategic Partnership.
Special Schools Cricket Festival
Big hits, great catches and loud appeals, it could have been the heat of an England v Australia Ashes battle but was in fact the 2008 Special Schools Cricket Festival. Nearly 100 pupils from around Gloucestershire took part in a day of exciting action and fierce competition at Gloucester’s GL1 Leisure Centre. The festival gave the children an opportunity to practice their skills during coaching sessions before putting them to the test in matches against other schools. The games were played as part of three mini-tournaments with Alderman Knight, Belmont and Bettridge the day’s champions after some hotly contested and hard fought matches. The enthusiasm and enjoyment of the players was matched by their sporting prowess with great cricketing action on view on each of the three pitches.
The incredible enthusiasm and energy of the players was rivalled only by that of the legion of staff and volunteers who worked tirelessly to ensure the day went smoothly. The contribution of 20 volunteers from Hartpury College and the assistance of 2 England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) qualified coaches from the University of Gloucestershire were particularly valuable.
The day was the culmination of 5 weeks of coaching in Alderman Knight, Heart of the Forest, Belmont, Bettridge, Shruberries, Milestone and Sandford schools which saw over 150 children given the opportunity to try their hand at cricket. The children were given coaching on all areas of cricket with attacking batting shots the most enthusiastically undertaken. Many pupils also had the opportunity to try on real cricket equipment and put themselves in the shoes of the professionals which caused amusement from both the children and staff.
Finally "I’d like to thank all staff for their help throughout this years cricket programme both at the festival and during coaching sessions and hope the summer brings some ‘cricket weather’ for the children to continue their cricket experience" said Luke Seller, Community Sports Coach.
Playing Field Safeguards Secure a Better Deal for Sport
A constant story in the news is the threat posed to sports clubs and organisations by the loss of playing fields to developers. In the past this has been a real problem and across the country organisations like the Gloucestershire Playing Fields Association (GFPA) devote many hours of volunteer effort to securing and protecting playing fields for sport. So it is good news to note that only 40 planning applications concluded during 2005-06 resulted in a detrimental impact to sport. During this period 1,176 (97%) of concluded planning applications affecting playing fields resulted in improved or protected sports provision.
In addition none of the 40 cases resulted in the complete loss of a playing field. Sport England, a statutory consultee on all planning applications affecting sports playing fields, lodged a formal objection to the relevant local authority in all 40 cases.
Minister for Sport Gerry Sutcliffe said:
“We have put strong measures in place to protect sport playing fields and sports provision for communities up and down the country. These measures are working and it destroys the myth that playing fields are being lost. As we look to increase sports participation I’d like to see more school sports pitches and facilities opened up to wider community use and local authorities putting sport higher up their agenda. Evidence shows that when you give people the sports facilities they want which they can use all year round participation goes up.”
Sport England Chief Executive Jennie Price said:
“The 2005-06 results show that our safeguards are working well and Sport England is getting a better deal for sport. Access to good facilities, including playing fields, is key to inspiring more young people to take up sport, and to keep playing on a regular basis.”
Examples of new sports provision from the applications include 115 cases where new-for-old replacement playing pitches were built, 14 of which provided increased space for sport. 142 new indoor sports facilities and 404 outdoor facilities were built including 84 all-weather synthetic turf pitches enabling community sport use all year round.
New data on Sport England’s Active Places databases shows that there are over 53,000 playing pitches on more than 20,000 sites in England and that 94% of the population live within 20 minutes travel time of a playing field.
This picture is encouraging but there is no room for complacency. Constant vigilance is required and organisations like Gloucestershire Playing Fields Association will continue their work to both secure existing playing fields for sport and to lobby vigorously for new provision as part of future housing developments. Julie Tegg Secretary of the GFPA can be contacted at gloucestershire@cpfas.org.uk
In February 2008 ACE (Activity Club for Everyone) and Stroud’s Annual Sportsability Festival were successful in gaining £1,000 worth of SAQ (Speed Agility Quickness) equipment from O2 It’s Your Community Awards. It's Your Community is a new awards programme to help people come together to make a real difference to the communities in which they live. The section of the awards in which ACE was successful is called Community People – Helping Bring People Together. It looks at activities that create a sense of ownership and social responsibility, for example, promoting personal safety awareness to young people or supporting a self-help group for elderly people.
Hannah Drew, Community Disability Development Officer for Stroud said “This equipment will allow the children, young people and adults with disabilities who participate in sessions run by ACE to develop their speed, agility and quickness in a fun and innovative way.”
Each month around 60 projects throughout the UK receive up to £1,000 of Its Your Community funding. Awards must be for the benefit of the community or to build community spirit. For more information about the hundreds of projects which have already received an award and how to apply for one, visit www.itsyourcommunity.co.uk
ACE is a jointly funded project between Stroud District Council, Gloucestershire Primary Care Trust and a local charitable trust. For more information about ACE (Activity Club for Everyone), please contact Hannah Drew on 07921 250092 or hannah.drew@stroud.gov.uk
Easter Sports Fun!
Following on from the success of the activity camp ‘Sport Skillz’ at Christmas, Active Gloucestershire has teamed up with the Forest of Dean Sports Partnership to hold a ‘Forest Sport Skillz’ camp. The camp will be held at Heywood Community School on Thursday 17th and Friday 18th of April.
Alison Croad, Coaching Supervisor for Active Gloucestershire says “the sessions we have available for the children to take part in are full of new skills and techniques delivered in a fun and safe environment”.
The specialist community sports coaches delivering the sessions during the two days have a fun and action packed programme for all those involved. Activities include football, hockey and badminton as well as ultimate frisbee, kick boxing and dodgeball!
.jpg)
The camp is open to all children aged 8 to 14 years old, so why not book up today!
For booking information please contact Alison Croad (Active Gloucestershire, Coaching Supervisor) on 07770 730871. Or visit www.activegloucestershire.org to download a booking form.
Symonds Yat on the River Wye Receives Funding
Subject to final planning permission and other consents being granted, the British Canoe Union (BCU) has received £120,000 from the Community Club Development Programme managed by Sport England and £25,000 from West Midlands Advantage Market Towns Initiative to maintain and restore the rapids at Symonds Yat on the River Wye in the Forest of Dean as a venue for introducing novice canoeists to moving water.
The rapids have been of local, regional and national importance to canoeing since the 1950's being the only accessible rapids of their kind in the South of England during the spring and summer. They are frequently used by youth groups such as scouts and youth clubs as well as canoe clubs and outdoor centres from across the country and are where many expedition paddlers, competition champions and Olympic competitors began their canoeing careers.
The award follows a 12 year fund raising campaign led by a local group made up of senior paddlers from a number of local canoe clubs to preserve the rapids after the previous owners threatened to regrade them for fishing. The rapids were purchased by the BCU with assistance from the Environment Agency in March 2003. The current project will restore & make permanent the groynes that generate the water hydraulics so loved by canoeists whilst preserving the rapids as a local beauty spot popular with sightseers and minimizing any impact on local wildlife.
Contractors need 4 weeks to complete the work, two weeks of which will be "In river". The work is expected to take place, low river levels permitting, in late September or early October. When the project is complete and mature, the permanent groins will help arrest the erosion of the island, enhance the passage of migratory fish, provide otter and other habitats and has a 50 year non return design life.
Fund raising is continuing in order to put the final touches to this win win scheme. Further details about the project can be found on its website at www.yatrapids.co.uk
We Say Hello to...
We would like to welcome a number of new members of staff to the Active Gloucestershire workforce.
Firstly we are pleased to welcome two new members of staff that will be supporting the Active Start programme.
Michael Squire and Philip Llewellyn have started their roles and will soon be deployed into children centres across Gloucestershire. Their roles will strive to make an impact on children’s and families health, wellbeing and their levels of physical activity. Meet Michael and Philip in the next newsletter.
Secondly a new Senior Competition Manager for Gloucestershire has been appointed and we are pleased to announce Will Parker (currently acting PDM for Cheltenham Spa SSP) will be starting his new role on 28th April. The new role is part of the National 5 Hour Offer programme and in a key area to increasing opportunities for children and young people to become more active. The post will drive and lead systemic change across the county by increasing the number of young people engaged in high quality competition, whilst engaging with all the relevant partners to rationalise opportunity and therefore avoid unrealistic expectations of young competitors. The post will also be responsible for recruiting, managing and co-ordinating a team of two Competition Managers, who will help to plan and implement a programme of inter-school competition across Gloucestershire using the national competition framework for young people as the basis. The post will be based within Active Gloucestershire; County Sports Partnership for three days per week and at Heywood School for the remaining two days to ensure a multi-agency approach is taken with the role.
A report on Will's progress in his new role will be featured in the May edition of the Active Gloucestershire eNewsletter.
On a South West front Andy Davey has joined the British Canoe Union (BCU) as South West Paddlesports Development Officer. Andy is keen to hear from you with your Paddlesports projects so please contact him at andy.davey@bcu.org.uk
We Say Goodbye to...
Mark Jacobsen is leaving the partnership after nearly two years of delivering tennis in the Gloucester City area. Over the last two years Mark has engaged a lot of Gloucester residents to take up tennis and worked in deprived areas to provide opportunities for the young and older generations. Mark has many roles outside of the partnership and we wish him well in pursuing them.
Tom Johnson, Active Gloucestershire Swimming Community Coach has also left the partnership. Active Gloucestershire would like to wish Tom all the best in his future career.
