A strategy for supporting Letchworth residents to be more active and healthy is being launched with local sports, community and health groups on 17th November at the Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation offices on Icknield Way.
Organisations involved in grassroots sport, physical activity, health and wellbeing activities are being invited to join a Partnership Forum aimed at improving opportunities for residents to get more involved and improve the town’s sporting infrastructure.
Great Britain Hockey Olympic Gold Medallist (1988) and Chair of the successful East Grinstead Sports Forum, Richard Leman, will be in attendance as guest speaker for the launch event. Richard will talk about his local forum and highlight the benefits of collaboration for clubs, local groups and the community.
Matthew Glew, Chairman of Active Letchworth Steering Group and a Letchworth Garden City Heritage Foundation Governor said: “Letchworth, as the world’s first Garden City, encouraged an energetic and active town life, where leisure and sport developed and thrived. For the early Letchworth pioneers the benefits were felt in terms of improvements in health and wellbeing. It is essential that as Letchworth continues to develop as a Garden City that we preserve and further develop these activities and principles behind them.”
The Active Letchworth Strategy, funded by the Foundation has been prepared by a number of local partners to help inform the development of future leisure, health and wellbeing provision within Letchworth Garden City and to provide clear provision for the future and a road map as to how to achieve it. Creating and sustaining not just facilities but sustainable pathways to keep people playing sport and staying physically active from childhood into adulthood is crucial to driving increased levels of sports participation and physical activity.
A great deal has been achieved over the years and for many clubs there is an ambition to progress to higher standards of competition, improve facilities and to provide more opportunities for local people, especially, young people. There have been a number of success stories driven and achieved by local volunteers supported by the strong partnership network that already exists.
Duncan Wood-Allum Director of The Sport, Leisure and Culture Consultancy, who developed the Strategy said: “We’ve laid a firm foundation of evidence and consulted with a number of the key organisations in Letchworth. We now want to share the strategy with all grassroots organisations and work with them to identify what their priorities are to improve opportunities for participation and active lifestyles and support them in making it happen through collaboration, attracting funding and smarter ways of working together.”
If your organisation is interested in attending the launch meeting at either 2pm-4pm or 6pm-8pm on 17th November in Suite A at the Heritage Foundation Offices in Icknield way, please contact info@sportleisureculture.co.uk or call 01444 459927