£212,000 Disability Sport Programme For …

Brilliant news! Thanks to a massive award from Sport England and other partners – Active Nation is about to launch an adult disability sport programme in Southampton.

The Sport England Inclusive Fund has pledged £160,831 to enable us to run this exciting scheme over the next 3 years. This will not only allow us to recruit a project co-ordinator, but also to subsidise our exclusive adult disability activity programme for participants. Each of our 7 venues in Southampton will be delivering weekly activity programmes and we are aiming to attract more than 9,000 visits during the 36 months.

There will also be discovery events and monthly taster sessions to enable adults living with disabilities to find a sport or activity that suits them.

Ross McClean, Active Nation’s Partnership Manager, said: “The funding from the Sport England Inclusive Fund is fantastic news for the city of Southampton and will make a big difference to the lives of so many adults with a disability.

“Although Active Nation have led on the bid, it has been a multi-agency approach with great support and in-kind contributions from a range of key partners. We are looking forward to implementing this project in due course, which will hopefully help get adults with a disability more active in sport.”

The number of disabled people playing sport regularly is on the rise. In December 2013, Sport England’s Active People Survey – an annual, in-depth measure of the nation’s sporting habits – revealed that a record number of disabled people in England now play sport each week. However, non-disabled people are still twice as likely to play sport as disabled people (39.2 per cent compared to 18.5 per cent), which is why Sport England continues to focus attention and investment to address this imbalance.

Sport England Director of Insight, Lisa O’Keefe, said: “Record numbers of disabled people now play sport and this is thanks to the tireless energy of organisations, coaches and volunteers across the country. We are delighted to be able to support them by awarding this funding, so that we can continue to improve opportunities and make a real difference in communities.”

More than 20 of Active Nation’s key partners have written letters of support and are providing in-kind contributions, which takes the total project value to £212,051.

This latest announcement comes just weeks after Southampton City Council short breaks team awarded Active Nation £34,000 over the next 2 years to provide a sports programme for disabled children in the city.

• Posted on: Wednesday, April 23rd, 2014 by Bita Rezaei