Active Charnwood team win national award

Published: Mon 2nd December, 2024

The Active Charnwood team have been celebrating after winning a national award.

They have been named Community Partner of the Year at the 21st annual Sense Awards, which recognise the achievements of people with complex disabilities and the people who support them.

Active Charnwood, Charnwood Borough Council’s sport and active recreation team, are responsible for delivering a wide range of sport, physical activity and health and wellbeing programmes and activities to residents living within the borough.

They lead and deliver services, programmes and activities that enable the residents of Charnwood to be physically and mentally active and to play an active role in their communities.

The award was won for the work Active Charnwood have done with Sense Hub Loughborough since its launch in 2023.

Councillor Liz Blackshaw, the Council’s lead member for communities and neighbourhoods, said: “This is an absolutely brilliant achievement, and I want to congratulate the Active Charnwood team on their award.

“They do so much good work in the community, which clearly has a positive impact on local residents, and it is great that this has been recognised.”

Zoe Griffiths, the Council’s physical activity and wellbeing manager, said: “We are delighted to have won this award. It was an honour just to be shortlisted among so many fantastic nominees across the various categories.

“This is the result of a lot of hard work by the team and it’s nice to have that recognised, although of course that’s not why we do it.

“It is so important that our services are available to everyone, and we look forward to continuing our partnership with Sense Hub Loughborough in the future.”

When shortlisting Active Charnwood for this award, Sense – a national disability charity – said: “They have been a key delivery partner of Sense’s sports and physical activity sessions at Sense Hub Loughborough. Active Charnwood were pivotal during the pilot phase of the new programme, providing Sense with a strategic overview of the sport and physical activity sector locally, and introducing the charity to delivery partners.

“Since Sense Hub Loughborough launched, the charity has received support from the Active Charnwood team in setting up a multi-sport session that now takes place weekly for people with complex disabilities. Active Charnwood have also provided much support in promoting Sense’s sessions to local groups, and their reach helped drive more coaches towards Sense Active’s training, meaning there is now a greater pool of coaches locally who are trained up to work with people with complex disabilities.

“The Sense Active team say that there is nothing the staff at Active Charnwood aren’t willing to help them achieve, and their generosity has meant that Sense have benefited from a great deal of sports coaching and active recreation activities and support over the past two years.”

A panel of judges consisting of author Lisette Auton, influencer Shelby Lynch, campaigner Paige Barnes, playwright Matilda Feyisayo Ibini, “Drag King” Crip Ladywood, singer Joe Kenny, fitness instructor Jaina Mistry and Sense chief executive Richard Kramer picked Active Charnwood as the winner in their category.

For more information on Active Charnwood, visit: www.active-charnwood.org