Welcome to the September eNewsletter
As the summer continues into September and hopefully October with the many winter sports now restarting their coaching sessions we ask that you remember to vote for your club/coach/umpire for the Gloucestershire Sports Awards. This year we are delighted that the Citizen and Echo have taken the lead role in promoting and organising these awards supported by Gloucestershire County Council and ourselves. It promises to be an amazing evening and I am hoping that the judging panel will be inundated with nominations in each category.
Gloucestershire this month provided a fantastic opportunity for people with a disability to take part in a variety of different sports and physical activities at the Gloucestershire Youth Games and I would like to mirror Anne Andersen’s thanks to all of the volunteers participants and schools for making the event such a huge sucess.
As ever we are happy to carry your contributions and to consider your suggestions so please do not hesitate to get in touch. In the meantime get on with making those nominations!
Best wishes
John Stevens
Chief Executive Officer
An Exciting Opportunity To Get Young People More Active
Gloucestershire’s Community Sport and Physical Activity Networks (CSPANs) have been allocated in principle £15,000 and Gloucestershire Activity Inclusion Network (GAIN) has been allocated in principle £6,750 as part of the year 3 (April 2010 – March 2011) Sport Unlimited Programme.
Sport Unlimited is a key programme, which contributes to the Government’s target of providing children and young people the opportunity to do 5 hours of PE and sport a week at school and in the community (The 5 Hour Offer). Sport Unlimited aims to get more semi-sporty children and young people regularly participating in sport and physical activity outside of the school curriculum. The three-year programme will enable 900,000 more 11-19 year olds to choose from a vast range of different sports such as mountain biking, kite surfing, dance, golf, rock climbing, archery, cheerleading, martial arts, hill boarding, sailing and trampolining as well as more frequently available sports such as netball, football and basketball.
Key partners that can help implement and benefit from Sport Unlimited funding include partners working with 11-19 year old young people who are interested in less traditional and informal sports. This may include youth clubs, boys/girls brigades, uniformed groups, community centres and community clubs for example.
CSPANs and GAIN have been established to create a coordinated partnership approach to increasing participation in sport and physical activity for the local community. As children and young people are a key target groups Sport Unlimited funding is being directed through the CSPANs and GAIN to ensure the money is allocated against priorities established locally.
To provide partners with further information on Sport Unlimited local CSPAN and GAIN meetings have been set up which are open to all partners interested in applying for the funding. To find out when your local CSPAN meeting will be held click here. If you would like further information on the meetings please contact the CSPAN/GAIN lead detailed above or Samantha Kloos on 01242 715204.
If you are unable to attend the meetings above but are interested in applying for the funding please contact the CSPAN/GAIN lead detailed above or Samantha Kloos on 01242 715204 or click here to download an application form.
New funding opportunities!
Can you provide fun activities that disabled children and young people might like to have a go at - either with or without their non-disabled peers? Up to £5,000 per scheme is available through two new funding programmes for activities that could be set up to take place between January and the end of March 2010.
Whilst we are keen to hear from people who are experienced at working with disabled children and young people, we are just as keen to receive applications from people who are passionate about what they do and believe that - with a bit of help from others - they could welcome disabled children and young people to take part in what they offer.
The Dragons' Den funding programme will support any type of group or activity that gives disabled children and young people a break from their parents, as a one-off event or for several sessions. The decisions about which proposals to support will be made by a group of disabled young people, who will invite some of the applicants to present their ideas at the Gloucestershire equivalent of the Dragons' Den TV programme. The closing date for applications is 4th November. This funding programme is being coordinated by Action for Children.
The Pilot Activity Groups funding programme is to support people across the county to set up pilot projects that will run for six sessions, each lasting 5 hours or more on Saturdays or Sundays, providing regular breaks for a group of disabled young people. The closing date for applications is 11th November.
Gloucestershire County Council are looking for exciting ideas, variety and enthusiasm from people who share our passion that disabled kids should be able to have great opportunities to enjoy themselves. Details and application forms for both these funding opportunities are available by clicking here.
Gloucestershire Youth Games 2009
On Wednesday 23rd September 09 Active Gloucestershire held the annual Gloucestershire Youth Games event for disabled children from schools within the County. This year 265 Children from 28 schools took part in the event which was funded by Gloucestershire County Council, Rotary Club of Gloucester-Severn and Local sports organisations.
14 different activities were on offer to these that attended mainly organised by community clubs such as the Cheltenham Town football club, Gloucester Rugby, Gloucestershire Golf Partnership and Cheltenham inclusive junior multisports club. For those who fancied taking a break from the sport, the games also offered Visual art workshops.
This year's event benefited from a 80-strong volunteer workforce, drawn from the National Star College, Harpury college, Whitecross school and Rotary club of Gloucester Severn and was also supported by on of Gloucestershire's Paralympics athletes, Simon Laurens, who took gold and silver medals in equestrian events in Beijing and was the guest speaker at this years event.
Anne Andersen, Active Gloucestershire's Active Inclusion Team leader, was again very pleased with this years event, saying that, "The fantastic volunteer base we had at this event and the wider, more varied approach we took this year have enabled this years event to develop in line with the developments that we are seeing in other areas of disability sport in the community and I am confident that we will see more children taking part in sport and physical activity within the community after this event. It is an exciting time"
Thanks also go to all of the volunteers and staff there available on the day. For more details on disability sports click here.
Gloucestershire Sports Awards
You still have time to submit your applications into the sports awards as the deadline has now been extended until Friday 16th October.
The Awards will recognise the contribution to sport within the county of Gloucestershire from grass roots level upwards. Do you know a coach, official, team-mate, referee, teacher or club that deserves some recognition for their services to your sport? If so then you can put them forward either online or by using one of the nomination forms in the Citizen or Echo and simply fill it in and send it back to the Citizen or Echo.
There are 12 different groups in which people can be nominated. A list of the awards can be seen below;
- Sports Personality of the Year - sponsored by the Gloucestershire NHS Primary care Trust.
- Junior Team of the Year - sponsored by Aspire and the third accolade is Senior Team of the Year.
- Adult Club of the Year - sponsored by The Citizen.
- Official of the Year - sponsored by Stroud Life.
- Young Coach of The Year (for under 18 years) - sponsored by Active Gloucestershire.
- Senior Coach of the Year (for over 18 years) - sponsored by The Forester.
- Disability Sports Person of the Year - sponsored by Hartpury Sport
- Teacher of the Year - sponsored by Gloucestershire County Council.
- Outstanding Services to Sport in Gloucestershire - sponsored by Brickhampton Court Golf Complex.
For more details on the sports awards categories and how to make a nomination click here.
Are you a CASC Club?
5,337 clubs are registered as Community Amateur Sports (CASC) Clubs, claiming an estimated total cash benefit of at least £58.3m by 30 June 2009.
Benefits of the CASC scheme include:
- 80% mandatory rate relief
- Gift Aid on donations
- Exemption from some levels of Corporation Tax
Active Gloucestershire in partnership with Runningsports will be running a workshop which helps explain the new tax breaks available through Community Amateur Sports Clubs status.
You can learn how to go about paying considerably less tax in order to allow you to spend more where it counts – on your club.
The workshop will explain the process and benefits of becoming a CASC, and by the end of the workshop, you will be able to:
- recognise and explain to other volunteers the advantages of becoming a CASC
- describe to volunteers the processes required to apply for CASC status
- list the areas of development in order to apply for CASC status.
Active Gloucestershire will soon be running the course ''How to Get Tax Breaks for Your Club'. Click here to find out more.
Back to School
The new school term is here, and that means its time to make sure that the kids are still getting their 60 Active Minutes. Change4Life have got everything you need to make sure that the kids keep active all day and there's lots of ideas to keep the family entertained over the weekend.
You’ll find loads of ideas, tips and games along with suggestions from other parents explaining what they’re doing to get their kids – and themselves! – out and about more.
For more details on the Change4Life programme and the back to schools ideas click here.
Take the How are the Kids Questionnaire
9 out of 10 of our kids risk growing up with dangerous levels of fat in their bodies. This can cause life-threatening diseases like cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Change4Life is a nationwide movement that’s there to help you and your family eat better, move more and live longer.
Before you start making changes, it helps to know what you're doing right and what you need to fix. That's what this questionnaire is for. When you submit your answers, you'll soon receive an Action Plan specially prepared for your family. You'll need your kids for some of the answers, so grab them now and take the questionnaire.
Your FREE Action Plan is full of handy hints to get the kids fighting fit and full of good stuff. They're really easy to do and are designed to fit into busy lives. And because your Plan will be tailored to your kids, it will have just the right hints. If your children are under two, you only need to enter a few details and we'll send you some info for how to give them a great start.
Click here to take the Change4Life ‘How are the Kids’ questioanniare.
Charity Netball Event for Children in Need
Cheltenham based netball team ‘Hotshots’ will be holding a big charity fun day and evening in November for 'Children in Need'.
The club have an entire day planned, including a charity netball match against Gloucester Rugby Club or Cheltenham Town football club. There will also be an opportunity for these teams to play each or have a shoot out where members of the public will be able to take on the pro's! In the evening the netball club will be holding a charity auction in which they aim to raise more money for the charity Children in Need.
If you would like to donate money or any prizes for the charity auction please contact the club by clicking here. If you would like anymore information on the Hotshots Netball club or the event click here.
Active Gloucestershire Welcome...
Alan Green - County Swimming Coordinator
Alan has been working as the County Swimming Coordinator for Gloucestershire since April 2009 and previously worked for the Amateur Swimming Association (ASA) since April 2007 where he was a member of the Business Team working as the Regional Business Manager for the South West.
Within Alan’s role at the ASA he is required to;
- To spread the philosophy and message of the Government’s free swimming initiative throughout the county.
- Work in partnership with local authorities whom are engaged in the free swimming programme
- Implement ASA policies and practises, in the county
- To represent the ASA in the county and work to achieve the ASA goals and targets, in particular to help get more people swimming, and to market ASA products/services.
If you would like to speak to Alan Green please contact him on 07799 067504.
Holly Taylor and Katie O'Connell - Active Start Community Sports Coaches
Holly and Katie both join the Active Start team. Since Katie left university she has been working with children aged between 0 and 15 providing fun physical activities. Holly is working on the active Start programme part-time to compliment her university degree. Holly recently asssited the Active Start team by running sessions during the summer holidays.
Active Start is Active Gloucestershire’s early years physical activity programme. The programme too to;
- Provide children with the opportunities to acquire fundamental movement skills through a fun range of Multi-Skill activities.
- Offers, staff, parents, carers and volunteers the opportunity to acquire sports leadership skills and qualifications
- Ensure the continuation and expansion of locally based activities
For more details on the Active Start programme click here.
We wish them all the best with their future at Active Gloucestershire.
