Member Article

Fitness funding boost for County Durham!

Enthusiastic running group “Mums on the Run” is celebrating a fantastic new funding boost for County Durham.

Earlier this year County Durham Sport became an independent company, moved offices and developed charitable status to grow sports opportunities for the people of County Durham.

More recently the organisation then carried out a re-branding process and developed a new contemporary look and logo to mark its evolution and to reflect its relationships with other local organisations. The new logo incorporates the St Cuthbert’s Cross whilst also demonstrating energy and movement – encapsulating the organisation’s locality and its mission.

And it appears these bold new moves have already paid off – because just last week Sport England announced it would be granting a further £100,000 to County Durham Sport to encourage local people of all ages to be more active and improve their quality of life, building on funding of over £80,000 already secured.

This combined funding is for the period until September 2017 and the team at County Durham Sport will now be working hard to attract additional Sport England funding until 2021.

As a result of these new funds, County Durham Sport will be developing a new, ambitious business plan to help people in the county to become more active and to bring more sports opportunities to the community. The team will be working closely with local partners to position sport and physical activity as a priority and will be targeting new audiences, including: children and teenagers; women; those aged over-50; and disability groups.

During 2017 – County Durham Sport will be continuing to promote This Girl Can. This is a celebration of active women who are doing their thing no matter how well they do it, how they look or even how red their face gets.

Next year the organisation will also be running the second Workplace Games competition which was a great success in 2016. The eagerly awaited School Games will be running again and there will be continued support for club, coach and volunteer development across the county.

In 2016 County Durham Sport has led to the successful launch of RunTogether – a recreational running programme for workplaces and community groups. The team also coordinated Sportivate - a programme aimed at increasing participation amongst 11-25 year olds and has encouraged the setting up of satellite Clubs, designed to introduce people to activity in a local, informal venue.

Executive Manager for County Durham Sport, Ian Gardiner says: “County Durham Sport has been in existence for 16 years but with a new government strategy for sport, an ongoing need to encourage people to be physical active, and our transition to becoming an independent company, we wanted to look forward and be bold and positive about the future. And this approach has certainly paid dividends this year.

“We’re delighted with our new look which we think perfectly reflects our aims and aspirations and this funding boost is the icing on the cake! The outlook is good for sport and activity in County Durham!”

To celebrate the funding news and rebrand County Durham Sport will be visiting targeted groups throughout this week introducing them to their new look and giving out fun, promotional goodies.

For more information about County Durham Sport please go to www.countydurhamsport.com

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Kate Slater .