Active Gloucestershire receive £2.8m to help people get active

Active Gloucestershire is the County’s Active Partnership which supports organisations, communities and individuals to get people active. They have a foundational role in the sport and physical activity sector and is well placed to help level up access to sport and physical activity across the country.

Active Gloucestershire will receive an investment of £2.8m of government and National Lottery funding from Sport England. They have been awarded long-term funding because of their commitment to co-deliver change at a national and local level, to help more people enjoy the benefits of playing sport and being active.

All partner organisations were selected by Sport England due to their ability to influence positive change and improvement throughout the sector, their own networks, and beyond. This is the first step on a journey to revolutionise Sport England’s approach to long-term partnerships which will see it build new relationships with innovative organisations, as well with existing partners, local partners and delivery partners to further the Uniting the Movement strategy.

Sport England research shows that some groups are typically less active, such as women, people with long-term health conditions, disabled people, people from ethnically diverse communities and lower socio-economic groups. Right now, the opportunities to get involved in sport and activity – and reap the rewards of being active – depend too much on your background, your gender, your bank balance and your postcode.

Active Gloucestershire are building a social movement, known as we can move, which brings together organisations, communities and individuals to take action and encourage more people to lead more active and healthier lives. Find out more at https://www.activegloucestershire.org/we-can-move/

Active Gloucestershire will use this funding to support more organisations, communities and individuals to get people active. Active Gloucestershire are working on a number of projects already such as Fall proof, a programme which aims to reduce older people’s risk of falls by encouraging them to do specific strengthening exercises. Other projects include Move, Connect, Inspire which provides more opportunities for young people with disabilities to be physically active.

Active Gloucestershire have also recently launched the Creating Active Schools Programme, which supports school leadership teams to embed physical activity across the school system, based on whole school priorities.

In addition to projects that support individuals, schools and community groups, they are investing funds in upskilling and training activity providers so they can better support people across Gloucestershire to be physically active. This is just a snapshot of the work they are doing.

In total, Sport England are investing £193 million for the first group of Active Partnerships over the next five years. This new funding model provides longer-term financial security as organisations recover and reinvent from the Covid-19 pandemic.

Tim Hollingsworth, CEO of Sport England, said: “Sport England’s Uniting the Movement strategy aims to help everyone play sport and get active– no matter who they are, where they live, or what their background. But we know that certain groups are more likely to be inactive and need targeted support and investment. We can only innovate and tackle these inequalities effectively with collective action, recognising that this is about long-term change.”

“Active Gloucestershire is one of a huge number of partners we are looking to work with on exactly this over the coming years. They play a foundational role within the sport and physical activity sector and are therefore well-placed to create the conditions for change. They will also act as a resource for other innovative organisations with the same goals as we seek to create a more equal society with everyone benefitting from sport and physical activity.”

Tom Beasley, CEO at Active Gloucestershire said: “This funding is immensely important to Active Gloucestershire and to people across the county. We have been working hard to get more people active and we work with organisations, communities and individuals across Gloucestershire to do just that.”

“We can move is a movement of people committed to getting Gloucestershire physically active and we want to grow the movement to ensure people of all ages, abilities and backgrounds, have the opportunity to be active.”

To find out more about we can move and to get involved, go to https://wecanmove.net/. You can also follow we can move on social media.