July Community News
Alex Yee Foundation Triathlon at St Dunstan’s
From Lewisham to the World Foundation organised and ran a triathlon at St Dunstan’s College at the start of July to encourage more primary school children to try triathlon. Over 900 pupils from schools across Lewisham took part in this event. Alex Yee was in attendance to sign autographs, speak to the BBC and support those doing the triathlon. Better supported this event by providing leaflets promoting our Kids Swim for £1 offer and our Summer Holiday Crash Courses. We will over the summer holidays be offering 5 free spaces on our crash courses to pupils nominated by their school for additional swimming support
Work Experience
This month we have supported 3 students gain work experience across Glass Mill and Wavelengths.
All the learners we have supported have been spoken very highly of by staff that supported them. One learner who shadowed in the gym at Wavelengths is keen to pursue a career in personal training and found this experience very valuable to their understanding of the industry
GLL Sport Foundation Event
The Broadway Theatre Catford was once again used to celebrate our GLL Sport Foundation supported athletes. This year we are supporting a record 102 athletes in the borough covering a range of sports and ages.
On the night 37 athletes attended with friends and family, alongside our GSF ambassador ex Olympic Long Jumper Jade Johnson. The event featured a display by Nomad Taekwondo and a Q&A with our 2x National Cyclo-Cross champion, who was able to reveal her selection for the Youth Olympics in August
National Open Weekend 19th & 20th July
Across the weekend centres across the partnership offered a range of free activities on top of our usual weekend programme. Activities ranged from gym challenges, additional group exercise classes, health checks and face painting
The event was promoted through our website, social media platforms as well as being promoted through the weekly Mayoral update and Schools Mailing list.
The open weekend was enjoyed by all those who attended with lots of positive feedback from those who took part in the additional activities.
Careers Event at Forest Hill School
The Community Sports Manager was invited to Forest Hill School to give a talk to Year 10 pupils about working in leisure, how to get into leisure and career pathways/progression opportunities. Each Year 10 class received a 20 minute presentation followed by a Q&A opportunity
Health & Wellbeing event at Lewisham Irish Centre
The Community Sports Manager spent a couple of hours at the Lewisham Irish Centre talking to users about what we have on offer in the centres as well as taking any questions they had. The main topics of discussion were the free access for people with disabilities, 60+ timetable and membership options as well as other activities that may appeal to this cohort such as our weekly Parkinson’s swim at Glass Mill
Lewisham Sports Forum
The inaugural Lewisham Sports Forum took place this month, organised and hosted by Lewisham Local who through a role funded by Lewisham Council have appointed someone to support sports clubs and groups with funding bids. This role works in tandem with another element of Lewisham Local to help make sports clubs and groups more financially sustainable in the long term.
At the forum we had presentations from the Mayor of London’s office talking about the Go London fund, the criteria and what they are looking for from bidders. We also had a presentation from London Sport who provided an update on the work they have done in the borough as well as made people aware of the Sport England Movement Fund.
Off the back of this meeting we have set up a meeting with Signal Family Services to expand their offer beyond Wavelengths. We have also spoken with another organisation about our trans and gender diverse swim at Glass Mill as well as the Be Active free access for people with disabilities.
Knife Amnesty Van at Bellingham Leisure & Lifestyle Centre
We were approached by Lewisham Council’s Safer Communities Service to host a Knife Amnesty Van at Bellingham. We had an initial meeting with them earlier in the month to discuss the logistics etc, with the van then being at the centre on the 30th July. In the run up to the van being at Bellingham, we posted on our social media channels and displayed posters in centre to raise awareness of this.
We have also set up a separate meeting in August to discuss the Community Funded Membership option and other ways we could work together by utilising the leisure centres to offer activities to act as crime prevention measures.