st.helens sports development annual...

£250,000 Secured for the Community Sport

Activation Project

365 Attendances to Coach Education workshops

82% Of St Helens schools

attended Schools Games competitions

10,581 Youth Sport Programme

Session attendances

15 Smokefree clubs now in operation

4,186 Young people joined in Sportivate sessions in St Helens

5,832 Participants and spectators attended the 2014 St Helens Sports Festival

4,600 Hours of activity for residents

aged 60+ in St Helens 1.2 Million

Accounts reached through the Sports Development Twitter pages

St.Helens Sports Development Annual Report2014 - 2015

Sports Development Annual Report 1st April 2014 to 31st March 2015

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St.Helens Sports Development Team

David Boocock Head of Sports Development 01744 675408 07747 762402 [email protected]

Terry Bates Sports Development Manager 01744 675807 07766 440613 [email protected]

Paul Doherty Chris Meadows Leon Tatlock James Thomson Community Sports Activators

Gemma Webster Sports Development Officer 01744 675403 [email protected]

Michaylo Fedyk Sports Development Officer 01744 675402 [email protected]

Hayley Lythgoe Clerical Assistant 01744 675400 [email protected]

Damian Keegan Sports Development Officer (School Games) 01744 675406 07584 262343 [email protected]

Mark Jennings Sports Development Officer 01744 675405 07768 414970 [email protected]

Governing Body Officers based within the team:

Cricket

Chris Chambers 07719 566125

Rugby Football Union

John Foster

Tom Williams Sports Development Officer (Graduate programme) 01744 675401 [email protected]

Ian Lynch Sports Development Officer 01744 675404 07768 414971 [email protected]

Sports Development Office Atlas House, Corporation Street,

St.Helens, WA9 1LD

mailto:[email protected]








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Contents Introduction ............................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4

“Over 5000 participants and spectators attended the sports festival” ...................................................................................................................... 5

“4,000 youngsters have joined in Sportivate sessions this year” ............................................................................................................................. 6

“£1/4 million for Community Sport Project” .............................................................................................................................................................. 6

“Men over 60 have taken part in more than 4,600 hours of activity with Fit Forever this year” ................................................................................. 7

“11 young cricketers have gone on to represent Lancashire” .................................................................................................................................. 9

“Touch Rugby draws fifty players a week” ............................................................................................................................................................. 11

“More sports clubs join national SmokeFree initiative” .......................................................................................................................................... 12

“293 hours of school sports competitions this year” ............................................................................................................................................... 13

“115 sports coaches receive training in safeguarding and protecting children” ...................................................................................................... 17

“Conference challenges sports clubs to adapt” ..................................................................................................................................................... 19

“Funding Workshop delivered to clubs” ................................................................................................................................................................. 20

“St.Helens Doorstep Sports Club recognised as the best in the Country” .............................................................................................................. 21

“ District Sports Council provides financial support to aspiring sports stars” .......................................................................................................... 24

“Plans for major investment planned for Ruskin Drive” .......................................................................................................................................... 24

“Vulcan sports facility will live long and prosper” ................................................................................................................................................... 26

“Football club supported to develop former school site” ........................................................................................................................................ 27

“New sporting links established with Stuttgart” ...................................................................................................................................................... 28

“5 year Sports Facilities Strategy Delivered” ......................................................................................................................................................... 28

“Planning for the Future” ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 33

“Sports Development Attendances exceed 41,000 in 2014/15” ............................................................................................................................. 39

Sports Development Performance Indicators 2014/15 .......................................................................................................................................... 40

Financial Information ............................................................................................................................................................................................. 41

“£1 ¾ Million secured for sports projects this year” ............................................................................................................................................... 42


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Introduction On behalf of the Sports Development Team, can I welcome you to our annual report for 2014/15. It has been a challenging year for the Local Authority Sports Development Team, sporting clubs and organisations given the recent economic and financial difficulties. However, together with our partners £1 ¾ million has been secured for sports projects in the borough. In September we were able to officially launch the Community Sports Activation Project, with £¼ million secured from Sport England. This will support a 3-year project to increase physical activity in the community.

In July the Annual Sports Festival at Ruskin Drive attracted thousands of participants to what is generally accepted to be one of the largest multi sports festivals in the North West. This year has also seen the plans for Ruskin Drive be refined and developed to the point where in the coming months works will commence. Attendance at Sports Development organised activity continues to increase and further details are listed throughout the report. It includes the Fit Forever Campaign, aimed at men over 60, which has developed to the stage where there are 10 sessions per week being held at venues across the borough with the latest success being the “Walking Football” activity. Without doubt a considerable amount has been achieved and developed this year and should you require any further information on any of this report’s contents please do not hesitate to contact any member of the team.

David Boocock Head of Youth and Sports Development


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Improving Peoples Lives St.Helens Plan Priority: Healthy and Active Sports Festival

“Over 5000 participants and spectators attended the sports festival”

Taking place over the weekend of July 12th & 13th, this was the fourth year for the festival event and once again the event was a resounding success in showcasing the borough’s premier outdoor sports venue and celebrating many of the most popular sports in the borough.

The sports festival attracted over 5,000 participants and spectators and ran for seven

hours a day for the two days. It included a wide range of sports involving both males and females from as young as 7 to others over 70 years old. It is widely accepted as the largest multi sports festival in the region and included archery, bowls, cricket, rugby union, rugby league, junior football, tennis, squash, hockey, rounders and new for 2015, softball exhibition game.

Sports Development have responsibility for organising the infrastructure at the venue

with the clubs taking responsibility for the structuring of competitions, invitations to competitors and running the events on the day. Each of the Sports Development Officers supports a specific sport or club and provides advice and encouragement as necessary.

Over 50 volunteers supported the event over the two days and without their dedication and countless hours of work, the festival would not have taken place. All the competition organisers were volunteers and they in turn recruited others to help them. A further team of volunteers are also recruited by Sports Development and deployed to sports as and when required.


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Sportivate

“4,000 youngsters have joined in Sportivate sessions this year”

Sportivate is a National Lottery funded programme, which commenced in September 2011 and is scheduled to continue until March 2017.

Sports Development secured £23,545 for Year 4 delivery projects, in addition to the £69,177 received for years 1-3.

The overall objective of Sportivate is to increase regular participation amongst teenagers and young adults, with a particular focus locally on females aged between 11-25.

It targets young people who are not participating regularly in sport in their own time or for only a limited amount of time and gives them the opportunity to take part in 6-8 weeks of high quality coaching and Sportivate supports them to continue playing sport regularly in their community after the sessions have finished.

Programmes were delivered in sports including:

Rugby union, netball, cricket, badminton, squash, hockey, fitness, cheerleading, dance, football, wheelchair basketball and tennis.

Venues included schools, colleges, sports clubs, community centres, parks and leisure centres.

The programme has seen over 4,000 attendances, which has resulted in an increase in memberships and the number of teams and volunteers at linked sports clubs. Over 30 volunteers have also developed their coaching qualifications through funded places on courses including First Aid, Safeguarding, Inclusive Coaching and Level 1s and 2s in Netball, Rounders, Rugby League, Badminton, Football and Hockey.

Prescot Hockey Club came on board for the first time since their move into the borough. They delivered a beginner’s coaching session on a Wednesday evening to recruit new members and develop a junior section. The project was a great success, both achieving an increase in young adult team members and a new junior section, who also competed in their first competition in Manchester and won!

Community Sport Activation Project

“£1/4 million for Community Sport Project”

The St.Helens Community Sport Activation Project is a Sport England funded multi-sport, multi-club project which aims to engage or reintroduce 4,000 people to physical activity from either the 14-25 age group or from the 35+ age group who are not engaged or are past participants who have lapsed due to health, injury, lack of opportunities or interest in ‘traditional’ sports sessions.


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Participants are offered a variety of affordable and accessible sports, with particular focus on the most deprived and low participation areas. The 3 sport activators are now in post, based within the Sports Development team. The activators consult with parents, spectators and local communities linked with a sports club, to help identify the types of activities people would like to do and also the best days/times. They lead the set-up, promotion and delivery of each activity, supported by the sports club delivery site and the Sports Development team. Activators are responsible for identifying potential participants or members of the sports club, who can lead and sustain the activity once they have received training. Bears Junior Rugby, based in the Carr Mill area, was one of the first projects to be involved. Whilst the juniors were training on a Saturday morning, parents were standing on the sidelines or sitting in cars. The activators started attending the sessions and talking to parents to see what activity they could be persuaded to take part in (as a mostly sedentary group). Following this initial consultation, sessions were delivered in rounders and handball. Parents started turning up to training in sports kit, ready to participate and even started bringing a few friends. The club has reported better relationships with parents, including some taking on a more active role helping at the club. They have also gained a number of new junior players. A number of parents have also now progressed into other local sports activities including fitness sessions and rounders. The club is going to sustain the parent sessions during the summer months. Since September 2014, projects have been delivered in fitness, running, masters football, disability sport and multi-sport including badminton, rounders and table tennis. 443 participants have been engaged with over 4,000 attendances. The project is also supported by the Steve Prescott Foundation, helping raise the profile in the local community. The project enjoyed front page coverage in the St.Helen’s Star thanks to support from local boxer Martin Murray and a promotional video has been produced to show clubs and residents the benefits of being involved.

Fit Forever

“Men over 60 have taken part in more than 4,600 hours of activity with Fit Forever this year” The Sports Development team have, since 2011, co-ordinated an Older Peoples Activity programme as part of the Active St.Helens Strategy, this also links in with the Priorities of the Health and Wellbeing Strategy for the borough.

Participant comment from the first session of a running project: “I just wanted to congratulate you and your team for

putting on the Tuesday class in Victoria Park. I

joined myself, there were a happy bunch of 6, all

starting off to get fit again. James and Chris did an

excellent programme, enough of a challenge but not

too severe to put us off, they were respectful of our

abilities and encouraging. I think the numbers will

grow as we will all recruit, but it was great and please

pass on the thanks from group members who

enjoyed the pain!”


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Peter, a participant at the St Nicholas Church Hall venue had stated how, apart from going watching St.Helens RLFC games, he “didn’t get out or do very much these days” but now that he was getting out of the house and coming to the session he was

really enjoying it. The chance to get out, engage with other people and play sports in either a competitive or non-

competitive scenario was one that Peter enjoyed.

In 2014 the Sports Development Team secured funding to address Public Health concerns of the health related issues of inactive men aged 60 plus who were particularly at high risk of Cardiovascular disease. In addition to increasing activity levels the programme also aimed to impact on mental health and general wellbeing. Fit Forever This low level intensity programme started in January of 2014 and was devised to encourage men who did not take part in any physical activity to get involved. Throughout 2014 and into 2015 over 300 activity sessions were planned and delivered attracting 217 men. This resulted in over 2300 attendances engaging in a wide variety of recreational and sporting activities including archery, bowls and more recently walking football. Throughout the summer of 2014, as the programme developed, a number of the sessions took place at local sport club sites as Sports Development worked in partnership with the host club. These sessions took place in and around Smithy Manor Bowling Club, Billinge and Garswood Bowling Clubs and St. Helens Archery Club. To help promote the programme, a 6 month free gym membership was offered to those participants who sustained active participation in the activities on offer. Eligibility for the gym offer required a minimum of 12 attendances at any of the listed venues. Twenty four people received the free gym membership and records have shown that regular attendances at the gym facilities have further enhanced active participation. As the programme moves forward, funding has once again been secured to develop and extend the range of activities available throughout 2015 and will now be expanded to attract females to the sessions. Queens Park Session Now a long established session for older people (with over 100 registered participants and 20 regular weekly attendees) it now serves as a pathway for participants who have been part of the Fit Forever programme. In addition the members have now formed a constituted group allowing additional funds to be obtained and to plan activities outside of those provided by Sports Development. The group has once again participated in a coached cycling session at the Manchester Velodrome and further visits will be planned in the future.


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Walking Football In January of this year the Sports Development Team planned and organised a session of Walking Football as a further enhanced activity. This was the first of the activities to take place during the evening time and so far 32 men aged over 60 have attended between January and the end of March. Due to the popularity of the activity, members of the group have now been able, on 2 occasions, to take part in a regional Walking Football event held at the Ethihad Stadium in Manchester. Plans are already being made to include Walking Football within the St.Helens Sports Festival in July for the inaugural St.Helens Walking Football Championships.

St.Helens Community Cricket Coach

“11 young cricketers have gone on to represent Lancashire”

The Council supports the post of Community Cricket Coach by providing office accommodation and a contribution of £3,000 towards the delivery of a number of the Active St.Helens objectives included in the following; Competitions

There have been primary competitions at Year 4/5, Year 6 Mixed and Year 6 Girls and this provides a pathway for the

winners to go through to Lancashire County Finals. At secondary level we have indoor and outdoor competitions for

girls and boys at u13’s and u15’s which six of the schools entered. This year Rainford High School got through to the

Chance to Compete National Finals at U15’s where they finished in third place; a great achievement for players and

staff involved.


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Schools Coaching

The schools programme started in September with both primary and secondary schools receiving coaching. Over 1000 coaching hours took place

and included curriculum coaching, after school clubs, teacher CPD, assembly visits and competitions. Over 8600 pupils received coaching in 2014

with 4,700 pupils being male and 3,900 being female. In addition there was also a link with a disability school (Mill Green), resulting in a coaching

programme over a 6 week period with over 30 children taking part each week.

Sportivate

The Sportivate programme which started in September included new Girls/Women’s training and matches, along with after school clubs at De la

Salle High School, Rainford High School, Hope Academy, Rainhill High School and Cowley High School. The coaching which is mainly aimed at

girl’s participation takes place from September to January before the competitions start in February. Some of the girls from the programme will

hopefully go on and play for a senior Women’s team or at a local club. One of the girls from this programme is now in the England U19’s squad

(listed on page 2). There is also coaching for the boys who prepare for the Lord Taverners in February/March.

England Cricket Board Clubmark

There are 5 ECB Clubmark clubs in the borough and this year Sutton CC, Newton le Willows CC and Haydock CC all received ECB Clubmark Re-

accreditation for the next 3 years.

District & County Cricket

There are currently boys’ teams at u11’s, 13’s and u15’s representing the borough in District cricket. The District under 11’s had a great season getting through to the Lancashire Cup Semi Final v Bury, unfortunately they lost by 5 runs in an excellent game of cricket. This year a 6 week development programme was organised at De La Salle High School which saw over 40 youngsters receiving elite level coaching over the winter months. The aim of the programme is to improve the overall standard of junior cricket in St.Helens and increase the number of county players coming from St.Helens. A number of local players have represented Lancashire last year: Matthew Hurst (U10 & Newton le Willows CC), James Clarke & Ben Walkden (U11 & Newton le Willows CC) Michael Grundy (U11 & Haydock CC) Joe Smith (U13 & Sutton CC) Ben Hemingway (U13 & Rainford CC) Rohan Bhalla (U15 & Newton le Willows CC) Saad Khan (U16 & Rainford CC) James Seward (U16 & Rainford CC) Olivia Horsfield (U15 & Newton le Willows CC) Natalie Brown (Senior Women & Sutton CC) Ellie Threlkeld (U15, U17, Senior Women & England U19)


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Community Rugby Union Coach

“Touch Rugby draws fifty players a week” Schools Programme Schools Rugby Union in St.Helens has continued to progress in both numbers of pupils participating and quality of performances. The Tag 2 Twickenham, the Boys Y7/8/9/10 Emerging Schools, the Year 7/8 Girls Tag competition, and the Girls U13 & U15 contact tournaments all saw record entries with over 330 school pupils participating. Haydock and Rainford entered the third year of the RFU All Schools Programme and the player pathway to local clubs is now well-established. Leadership programmes for Y10/11 students were completed at Haydock & Rainford to support the new primary school offer and this is being supplemented by Kids First Rugby for Teachers courses

being delivered in June 2015.

Social Rugby

May 2014 saw the introduction of O2 Touch at Ruskin Drive. The sessions, which ran until the end of August were aimed at “Social Rugby” and were attended by between 40-60 adults each week. This culminated in a showcase final as part of the St.Helens Sports Festival held in July 2014. Touch rugby will continue to be part of the festivals activities in 2015 as the popularity in this form of rugby increases. Representative Honours In addition to the development programmes a record number of club players achieved representative honours this year: Liverpool St.Helens 2 x U13s Boys were selected for Merseyside Development Squad 1 x U13 (from the above 1) Welsh Exiles development 3 x U15s Boys were selected for Merseyside Development Squad 2 x U15s Boys were selected for the Lancashire squad and also the Sale Sharks development programme


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West Park 3 x U14s Boys were selected for the Merseyside Development squad 11 x U18s Girls were selected for Lancashire U18s 7 x U18s Girls were selected for North of England U18s 2 x U18s Girls represented England 7s u18s 1 x U18 Girl was selected for England U20s v Wales and v France. 1 x U15 Girl was selected for North of England U15s

Smoke Free Sports Clubs

“More sports clubs join national SmokeFree initiative”

Football, rugby union and rugby league clubs from across the borough have now signed up to the SmokeFree touchline Programme. A national initiative, coordinated locally the Sports Development team, the programme has offered clubs support in developing smoking policies and providing resources such as weatherproof signage – which respectfully asks spectators to refrain from smoking. The local club representatives have also attended a smoking cessation workshop to enable them to help supporters and members who want to quit. This is a very significant step forward – reinforcing the message that smoking really has no place in an environment where fitness and health are so important. Sports clubs felt that being involved in such a significant programme will strengthen their image and reputation by

engaging with a national Public Health initiative The second phase of the Smokefree touchlines was rolled out in January 2015 with 8 more clubs from the borough signing up to make their touchlines smoke free. The latest list of clubs include Blackbrook Royals ARLFC, Carr Mill Bears JRLC, Newton Le Willows Football Club, Newton Le Willows Sports Club, Parkdale Sidac FC, Rainford Rangers FC, Thatto Heath Crusaders ARLFC and West Park RFC. This now takes the total to 16 clubs all signed up to the project.


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School Games

“293 hours of school sports competitions this year”

The Sainsbury’s School Games is a national initiative funded by the Department of Health and the Department of Culture, Media & Sport. Unlike many other areas where the project officers are based in sports colleges, St.Helens is unique in having one full time Schools Games Officer based within the Sports Development Team and therefore giving the advantage of having closer links with local sports clubs. A second officer is based at Bleak Hill Primary School who are the Health & Wellbeing lead for St. Helens

This has been a successful period for the programme. An estimated over 13,000 pupil hours of training and participation in sport and physical activity have taken place linked to the School Games programme alone. In addition 93% of schools are signed up to The Sainsbury’s School Games website, this figure is above the national average of 78%.

During this period schools have also been recognised for their efforts as 18 have being awarded a “School Games Mark” for their commitment to PE and school sport. 2 schools have also been shortlisted for the Merseyside Sporting Champions Primary School of the Year in recognition of their continued excellence across all areas.

Number of School Competitions April – July 2014 26

Number of Participants at Competitions April – July 2014 2,030

Number of School Competitions Sept 2014 – Mar 2015 67

Number of Participants at Competitions Sept 2014 – Mar 2015 4,086

Total number of participants in competitions 6,116

Total number of competitions 93

The following section sets out the programmes achievements against its 11 aims.


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Aims Key Achievements and Outcomes

Responsibility for as many schools as possible to take part in School Games.

Produced and promoted a local competition calendar for St.Helens schools for the academic year 2014-15. Throughout the year 80% of Primary Schools and 100% of Secondary schools have participated in sports events.

Work with the School Games Local Organising Committee to ensure clear links between Levels 1, 2 and 3 competitions.

SGO is based within the Sports Development Team and sits on the LOC, helps lead on the organisation and delivery of the School Games Level 3 Merseyside Winter and Summer festivals.

Develop the workforce of teachers, non-teaching staff, parents, volunteers and young leaders.

Teacher training continues to prove popular and 15 Continued Professional Development courses have been delivered to staff.

285 Young Leaders from 8 high schools and Lansbury Bridge School have been involved in helping deliver our local St.Helens events.

From September 2014 our partnership with Edge Hill University has seen 24 students trained to volunteer and help run events.

Provide access to specialist coaches, training and equipment – lunchtime/after school programmes.

Organised the delivery of specialist coaching provided by National Governing Bodies of Badminton, Cricket, Gymnastics, Rugby League and Rugby Union.

Support young people to access quality coaching, higher level competition and move into clubs.

Organised the delivery of specialist coaching provided by National Governing Bodies in Badminton, Cricket, Gymnastics, Rugby League and Rugby Union.

Through the School Games competition pathway opportunities are provided for schools to progress to district, regional and in one case National final. (Badminton CPNSC – Cowley KS3 Boys).

Sustain/grow the network of Change4Life sports clubs to support progression.

Delivered training workshops for Primary PE Coordinators to up skill staff in the delivery of Change 4 Life school clubs.


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Ensure provision for young disabled people to access School Games and stage local events.

Two Multi Sport Disability clubs continue to engage a minimum of 15 young disabled participants per club and have assisted young people compete in Level 1 and 2 School Games competitions. Provision provided for young disabled people to access the School Games and local events via participation and leadership. Examples being Key Stage 2 Boccia 18 schools and 94 pupils with 7 leaders. Key Stage 2 Highland Games16 schools and 123 pupils with 9 leaders.

And ensuring quality assurance and local impact measurement mechanisms are in place.

Continued support for schools in setting up a School Sport Organising Committee (Secondary) and School Sport Crew (Primary) to help run Level 1 intra sport.

Support young people to access quality coaching, higher level competition and move into clubs.

Organised the delivery of specialist coaching provided by National Governing Bodies in Badminton, Cricket, Gymnastics, Rugby League and Rugby Union. Through the School Games competition pathway opportunities are provided for schools to progress to district, regional and in one case National final. (Badminton - Centre Parks National School Championship – Cowley KS3 Boys).

.

And ensuring quality assurance and local impact measurement mechanisms are in place.

Continued support for schools in setting up a School Sport Organising Committee (Secondary) and School Sport Crew (Primary) to help run Level 1 intra school.


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St.Helens Plan Priority: Skilled and Educated

Coaching Development Programme

The sports development team continue to offer both training and financial support to develop coaches. A key objective within the Active St.Helens Strategy 2010 – 2015 was to; Increase the number of qualified coaches and leaders working in both a paid and voluntary capacity within the borough, with a specific focus on training young people. Coaching Bursary At the beginning of March in 2015 funding was again secured to offer a Bursary Coaching Scheme to financially support coaches undertaking Level 1 and /or 2 Coaching qualifications. Coaches who are working with a borough based club are asked to commit to at least 25 hours recorded coaching and undertake a specific number of Sports Coach UK courses. In return once the Level 1 or 2 coaching qualification is complete the club receive 75% of the costs up to £150. When the bursary operated over the past few years over 75 coaches were able to take advantage of the scheme resulting in over £11,500 being paid to clubs. Although the scheme was only re-launched in March there has already been significant interest and it is anticipated that this will again prove to be a valuable and popular source of funding for clubs and coaches within the borough over the next 12 months. In addition coaching courses were made available to clubs who were part of the Community Sports Activation Fund and Sportivate programmes.


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“115 sports coaches receive training in safeguarding

and protecting children”

Coaching Courses

The Coach Education programme has continued to provide an invaluable service to the boroughs sports clubs, as well as attracting attention from neighbouring towns. We deliver a variety of accredited and non-accredited workshops providing a continuous presence throughout the calendar year. Over the last 12 months we have coordinated 19 workshops totalling at 65 learning hours, with 351 learners benefiting from this service. As can be seen from the table on the right 2014/5 has seen a focus on the delivering of safeguarding courses with almost a third of all participants in education courses attending a workshop to raise their awareness and knowledge of safeguarding in sports settings.


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The following table provides a breakdown of the workshops delivered:

Workshop Date Hours Places Booked

Introduction to Social Media for Sports Clubs 07-Apr-14 3 8

Fundamentals of Movement 14-Apr-14 3 14

Safeguarding & Protecting Children 16-Jun-14 3 21

Emergency First Aid 28-Jun-14 6 8

Safeguarding & Protecting Children 15-Sep-14 3 15

Emergency First Aid 27-Sep-14 6 11

Equity In Your Coaching 13-Oct-14 3 15

Sports Club Conference 16-Oct-14 3 95

Smokefree Touchlines 20-Oct-14 1 7

Emergency First Aid 15-Nov-14 6 9

Rounders Activator 03-Dec-14 3 14

How to Coach Disabled People In Sport 08-Dec-14 2 19

Funding Seminar 07-Jan-15 2 16

Safeguarding & Protecting Children 26-Jan-15 3 19

Safeguarding & Protecting Children 02-Feb-15 3 20

Fundamentals of Movement 16-Feb-15 3 22

Safeguarding & Protecting Children 09-Mar-15 3 17

Emergency First Aid 14-Mar-15 6 8

Safeguarding & Protecting Children 21-Mar-15 3 13

Totals 19 Courses 65 Hours 351 Learners


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Sports Club Conference

“Conference challenges sports clubs to adapt”

The 8th Annual Conference took place at the Town Hall in October and incorporated the St.Helens District Sports Council annual awards. Once again online registration was used to make registration easier for all delegates, 101 tickets were booked from 49 clubs of which:

58% of delegates had attended the conference before, with

42% attending for the first time.

66% of delegates heard about the conference through a Sports Development Officer

5% through the Sports Development website

7% through the Sports Development Facebook or Twitter

37% through the Sports Development e-newsletter.

The underlying theme of this year’s conference was how clubs can adapt to the ever changing challenges in recruiting and retaining membership.

Graham Helm and Kimberley McBride from StreetGames delivered an interactive and thought provoking presentation to clubs centred on delivering sport to young people. They discussed why it was important to be able to converse with young people in their interests and issues and set challenging questions to the delegates Natalie Woodford and Paul Ashton from the consultants Knight Kavanagh Page, who have been commissioned by St.Helens Council to deliver a playing pitch, open spaces and indoor building facilities strategy, delivered a session to consult with local sports clubs on their needs. The final presentation came from Bobby Denning, Managing Director of Lancashire Cricket Board and was centred on the issues that cricket is currently facing, how they are looking to overcome these and the lessons relevant to all sports.


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Throughout the evening the St.Helens District Sports Council announced their awards winners for

Funding Workshop

“Funding Workshop delivered to clubs”

In response to demand identified at the Sports Club Conference, Sports Development delivered a Funding Forum in January 2015 to discuss both current and future funding opportunities available. 35 places were available for clubs to register via Eventbrite. The event was fully booked by the 11th December, with the 35 places representative of 18 different clubs. Information was provided on a number of different funding bodies and grants, including those from Sport England, Coalfields Regeneration Trust, Sportivate and the Community Sport Activation Project. A pro-forma was produced for clubs to complete for any potential projects they may have and return to Sports Development for follow-up meetings. The Sports Development Team were able to produce and distribute additional information on ward profiles to the clubs after the forum, this vital information can be used to support any funding bids clubs may submit.

Club of the Year

Coach of the Year

Young Volunteer of the Year

Young Sports person of the Year

Volunteer of the Year and Life Achiever

All the winners then represented St.Helens at the Merseyside Champions Dinner Awards


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Creating a Better Place St.Helens Plan Priority: Stronger and Safer

Youth Sport Programme

“St.Helens Doorstep Sports Club recognised as the best in the Country” The Youth Sports Programme continues to be an integral part of the Sports Development programme, with an aim to increase participation of young people aged 14 to 24 in sports and physical activities. The programme works alongside a number of partners to provide diverse activities in areas of greatest need, address issues of obesity amongst young people, engage young people who would not normally join sports clubs and provide activities not previously available. Young people are encouraged to participate in vibrant and varied sessions and take up coaching opportunities within the programme to help with their Continued Professional Development. Sessions have taken place in key wards of Haydock, Thatto Heath and Town Centre in line with the Active St.Helens Strategy, and Re-New areas have been included in the delivery of the programme. The Youth Sports Programme also gained national recognition being selected out of 952 programmes from across the country to be included in UKActive’s Steps to solving inactivity publication. A case study was produced for the publication as an example of good practice. DoorStep Sports Clubs This year saw £18,000 granted from StreetGames to continue work on Year 2 of the Doorstep Sports Club Scheme (DSC). A DSC is defined as a club with up to 3 different sports under one roof to provide participation opportunities for young people aged 14 to 24. Sports Development was successful in securing grants to enable four DSC’s to run as part of our programme. DSC activities have included Roller Sports, Girls football, Boot Camps, Girls rugby, Free Running/Parkour dance and Gym sessions. A further £1,600 was awarded for the training of staff, volunteers and young people involved in the DSC’s, this has resulted in two members of staff completing the StreetGames Level 2 Coaching Course in addition to a number of sports specific activator courses. Award Winner In March 2015 the Youth Sports Programme’s Door Step Sports Club, The “X-Club”, received recognition, winning the Doorstep Sports Club of the Year project at the annual StreetGames National Awards. This prestigious award reflects the work undertaken by the Sports Development Team and the young volunteers in making the project a success.


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. StreetGames Club1 As Sports Development continues to broaden the offer of the Youth Sports Programme, an application was made to the StreetGames Club1 initiative. Club1 aims to get more young people aged 14-25 to take part in solo activities, as part of a group and of their own accord. A further aim is to help the young people make use of local facilities and prepare them to be more physically active independently to create a sporting habit for life. Out of 14 Club1 initiatives granted in the North West, the Youth Sports Programme was successful in being granted 2 of these (one female only). The Club1 initiative has been a successful addition to the Youth Sports Programme engaging large numbers of young people in the following activities:

Crossfit

Judo

Gym Sessions

Darts

St.Helens Parkrun

St.Helens 10K Run

Basketball

Wheelchair Basketball

Parkour

Roller Sports

Youth Sports Festival During the February half term Sports Development planned a Youth Sports Festival at Sutton Leisure Centre. The festival was successfully promoted across social media and picked up by regional radio station Wish FM and covered as its “Twit face of the day”. Mark Jennings, the Youth Sport Programme lead officer, was interviewed live and used the opportunity to promote the festivals’ activities as well as other provision available in the borough for young people. The festival itself was a resounding success with just under 100 young people from St.Helens all of different ages and abilities attending. The young people had the opportunity to experience a range of different activities that they would not usually get access to, from futsal and darts to wheelchair basketball and parkour.

Gym Sessions Following a successful application to the ReNew ‘Make it Happen’ Fund the Youth Sports Programme was granted, £1,175.84 to set up and run a 16 week gym project at St Helens Fitness 500 for young people aged 14 to 16.

Following being contacted by a parent of a young person, the Youth Sports Programme has been working with a young male who needed to lose a large amount of weight and reduce his body fat percentage to get him to a position where he could have a much needed operation on a reoccurring knee problem. The male has been working at the gym sessions with Sports Development members of staff and has been given a set programme and diet plan to follow. Currently the young person, who attended a 12 week programme, has lost 32lbs and reduced his body fat percentage by over 4%.


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Five 12 month memberships where offered as part of the project to the young people who completed 10 or more of the 16 weeks. A total of 50 individual young people attend the sessions with 2 males and 3 females receiving the memberships. The weekly sessions continued to run until the end of March funded by the StreetGames Club1 monies. Social Media A key development for the Youth Sports Programme has been the use of social media. The programme now has a presence on Twitter and Facebook in order to publicise all youth sports related information and to communicate with its target audience. Twitter, @YouthSportsSTH currently has 553 followers and through its information sharing has reached 357,664 different accounts. During our monitoring of the account during March 2014, 50 tweets alone reached 131,739 different accounts and made 269,327 impressions (total number of times tweets have been delivered to individual timelines) The Youth Sports Programme Facebook account, Youth Sports STH, has 336 likes on its page. The make-up of followers is 64% female, 36% Male compared with Facebook’s overall general usage of 46% Female, 54% Male.

Female Attendance The Youth Sports Programme has been “bucking the trend” when it comes to female participation and many of the sessions have more females attending than males. There is approximately a 60% - 40% split in attendance. In particular the Gym sessions have developed into one of the more popular activities for females. Gym Case Study After being contacted by a parent of a young person, the Youth Sports Programme has been working with a young male who needed to lose a significant amount of weight and reduce his body fat percentage, to get him into a position where he could have a much needed operation on a reoccurring knee problem. The male has been working at the gym sessions with Sports Development members of staff and has been given a set programme and diet plan to follow. Currently the young person, who attended a 12 week programme, has lost 32lbs and reduced his body fat percentage by over 4%. Summary of Performance

April 2014 – March 2015 Total number of sessions Total Attendance

Target 400 6,750

Actual 688 (172%) .

10,580 (157%)


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St.Helens District Sports Council

“ District Sports Council provides financial support to aspiring sports stars”

The District Sports Council is the voice of the amateur sports clubs in the borough. Sports Development has always worked closely with the DSC and has had considerable success in joint initiatives. This year the DSC has once again administrated the Annual Sports Awards which were presented at the Sports Conference in October with the winners progressing to the Merseyside Awards held in November at the Adelphi Hotel, Liverpool. In addition to the awards the DSC were also consulted by Sports Development in the development of the

Sportivate application. This involvement in the production of the application was recognised by The Merseyside Sports Board as good practice and St.Helens Council’s bid was the only application to involve the District Sports Council although they exist in all other areas. Sports Development actively encourage the borough’s sports clubs to join the DSC so as they can keep up to date on all current sports matters, have the opportunity to contribute to discussions at the regular meetings and can be eligible for funding held by the DSC which currently includes a Busary payment of £100 for young sports participants.

St.Helens Plan Priority: Cleaner, Greener and Accessible

Ruskin Drive

“Plans for major investment planned for Ruskin Drive”

On 22nd April 2014 the Council’s Planning Committee approved the Ruskin Drive scheme, following only four comments from residents and no substantial objections. The smooth passage of the scheme through the planning process can be attributed to the extensive consultation that has been undertaken during the schemes two year development stage


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The project plan included the following elements:

Two 3G Artificial Turf Pitches one for Football one for Rugby League

Six All weather Tennis Courts

A new twelve changing room Pavilion

Additional Car Parking

Four New Cricket Practice Nets

2014/15 was almost entirely taken up with securing the funding to deliver the scheme. All funding applications made by Sports Development for funding towards the scheme costs were successful and the maximum grant levels achieved. The following offers of funding have been made:

Sport England – Improvements Fund £500,000

Football Foundation – Build the Game £492,000

Rugby Football League £ 35,000

Lawn Tennis Association £ 40,000

Section 106 City Rd £800,000 Total External Funding Raised £1,867,000

Unfortunately due to reductions in the central government funding received by the Council and the exhaustion of all potential external funding sources for the project it was necessary to review the scheme late in 2014 to see how the costs could be dramatically reduced in a way which would also protect as much of the growth in sporting participation as was possible. It is now planned to retain the two existing two outdoor changing room facilities and add a third building containing an additional six.


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Vulcan Sports Ground

“Vulcan sports facility will live long and prosper” In 2002 the Vulcan Sports and Social Club closed, the once vibrant club which had until its latter years been heavily subsidised by the adjacent engineering works was home to the following sports:

• Football • Bowls • Rugby Union • Rifle Shooting • Fishing

It had until the late 1990’s also accommodated Tennis and Cricket but these clubs ceased to operate in advance of the sites closure. The former Vulcan Works and its sports ground were sold to St. Modwen in 2010 to develop housing. Given however the area covered by sports pitches which are protected under PPG17, it was necessary for the developer St. Modwen to reach an agreement with the Council, Clubs and Sports England regarding the provision of replacement sports facilities. The replacement facilities agreed with all parties were set out in a Section 106 planning agreement. Upon the construction of the 250th dwelling, the developer will provide; A sports facility will include:

3 Winter Sports Pitches

1 Multi-Use Games Area

1 Bowling Green

1 Rifle Lounge (indoor)


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4 Changing Rooms

2 Officials Changing

Social Space for Football and Bowls Sports Development has been working with the clubs who will take leases to operate the facilities on the site to ensure the designs meet their requirements and that they are structured in a way that will allow them to take on the new facilities. It is currently estimated that the facilities will be operational between autumn 2016 and spring 2017.

Earlestown Athletic JFC - Facility Development

“Football club supported to develop former school site”

Sports Development has been working with this junior football club since they became the Council’s preferred partner to develop the former St.Aelred’s High School Field. In 2013 the Council advertised for a club to work with it to develop the site as community outdoor sports pitches. Two clubs expressed an interest and the Earlestown Athletic JFC bid was assessed as the strongest. The club has been supported to develop successful funding applications to Cory Environmental and Sport England. The final piece in their funding jigsaw is from the Football Foundation however this can only be applied for once the project has planning permission which will hopefully be obtained in April 2015. Subject to a successful planning application and the final funding bid, this £200,000 project will be constructed in 2015 and be ready for the football season 2016/17.


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St.Helens Plan Priority: Thriving, Vibrant and Competitive Town Twinning

“New sporting links established with Stuttgart”

Chalon – this summer the Council received an invitation from the Rugby Club in Chalon for a junior team to visit and play in the annual tournament. The opportunity was promoted to both Rugby Union and League clubs and Liverpool St.Helens came forward to send a team to the Easter 2015 event. Sadly incompatibility between the age groups and rules meant that the invitation could not be accepted, the club are still keen and hope to take the same squad when they are a little older and the rules harmonise. Stuttgart – Prescot Hockey Club, who are now based at Sutton Leisure Centre approached Sports Development requesting links with Stuttgart so they could explore taking a side or sides to Germany to play. The link has now been established and the club hope to visit Stuttgart with a Men’s Veterans (40 years and above) side during 2015.

Facility Improvement Strategy

“5 year Sports Facilities Strategy Delivered”

The ability to influence investment through BSF, Local Strategic Partnership or the planning system is heavily dependent on local authorities having a clear strategic vision in terms of facility provision and priorities across the local authority. Without this clarity of vision and priorities, sport and leisure, be it through the auspices of the local authority, the County Sports Partnerships or Sport England offices will struggle to be effective in any discussions. To address this Sport England commissioned the production of a Facility Improvement Strategy for the borough which was produced and adopted in 2010.


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The following table illustrates the progress made by partners to deliver the strategy between 2010 and 2015:

Strategic Priorities Outcomes Outstanding/

Progressing /Complete

Strategic priorities for future swimming pool development are :

Continue investment in the Key Council sites at Parr, Sutton and Selwyn Jones, which are well located to serve key priority areas.

Artificial Turf Pitch refurbished at Selwyn Jones Sports Centre Changing accommodation remodelled and village changing introduced at Parr

Undertaken by Leisure Investment

Completed

The new Queens Park Leisure Centre and refurbished Parr Pool meets the previously identified need for new town centre provision

Completed in 2012/13


Complete

Ensure the opening of the New Queens Park Leisure Centre is programmed and marketed to deliver increases in participation across priority areas and key target groups

Completed in 2012/13


Complete

Seek to protect access for school swimming within swimming pool programmes

School swimming currently takes place at Parr Queens Park and Selwyn Jones Swimming Pools


Complete

Consider the use of temporary pools to address access to school swimming in the areas not served by permanent pool facilities and be part of the strategy to deliver school swimming alongside the programming issues set out above

A temporary pool was installed in Broadway Sports Hall in 2011 by the School Sports Co ordinator to offer swimming lessons to Year 6 Pupils, the pools running costs proved prohibitive for this to be extended once the external funding that met the initial costs had been used.

Outstanding

Any additional need for provision to be explored to serve the north and north west of the borough (Rainford, Billinge and Seneley Green) through partnership and co-location opportunities. Although it should be noted the lower levels of population in the areas (only 4%) and relative low priority in terms of health, participation and deprivation indices (higher levels of car ownership)

No progress Outstanding

Strategic priorities for future sports hall development are :


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Strategic Priorities Outcomes Outstanding/ Progressing /Complete

Explore the future of Broadway Leisure Centre and seek to protect access to the 6-court facility for sport

Completed in 2012/13 Undertaken by

Sports Development

Completed

In addition ensure community use is maximised at key strategic schools sites (which meet critical community gaps) to deliver accessibility, namely; Rainford High Technology College, Haydock Sport College, St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School and Rainhill High School

Grant secured to appoint project officer to develop additional use.

Undertaken by Sports Development

Progressing

As part of the BSF programme seek to deliver smaller flexible hall spaces / dance studios to provide programming opportunities to meet needs of key target groups; 16-24, women and girls and the over 50s. Ensuring these facilities have adequate storage so equipment can be safely stored to maximise available activity space and protect valuable assets.

Small halls have been developed at De La Salle, Rainford, and Hope.

Undertaken by Scrutiny Committee

Complete

In order to support schools and take a more strategic approach develop a centralised booking system to allow the community to access all halls to ensure facilities are programmed and marketed to deliver on a co-ordinated basis to key target groups and priority areas

The Community Access and Satellite Sports Clubs project evaluated the potential of this however the delays in implementing computerised bookings with the Leisure Facilities has meant this could not be progressed. The schools have however improved their websites.


Progressing

Seek to develop school / club partnerships around key school hub sites to deliver activity and participation programmes

Partnerships have been established at 5 school sites with plans for further to be developed in 2015


Progressing

Seek to work with schools to develop day-time access and deliver day-time use on school sites to meet the needs of key target groups; particularly women and the over 50s

No Progress to date due to safeguarding concerns

Undertaken by Scrutiny Committee

Progressing


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Ensure the network of smaller activity halls are accessible to provide flexible opportunities to meet the needs of key target groups identified in Active St.Helens

The Community Activation Project launched by Sports Development in 2014 is provided activity in a range of small halls and venues across the borough


Complete

Monitor community use and access to school sites post BSF and address any future deficiencies arising from a lack of community access

Audit of use was repeated in October 2013 Undertaken by

Sports Development

Complete

Strategic priorities for future STP development are ;

This should be up to a maximum of 3 additional full-size pitches or equivalent and should focus on areas of accessibility deficiency

The pitch at Rainhill High has been completed and is now open to the community. There is still a deficiency of one pitch which will hopefully be met by the redevelopment of Ruskin Drive. The potential of new full sized pitches 3 G pitches is also being explored at St.Cuthberts High School and Rainford High School.

Undertaken by Rainhill High

Progressing

Seek to deliver increased STP provision through a combination of 3G and smaller 60m x 40m provision

The pitch at Rainhill High has been completed and is now open to the community.


Complete

The authority should seek to deliver one new full-sized 3g pitch as a minimum to deliver the identified shortfall

The pitch at Rainhill High has been completed and is now open to the community. There is still a deficiency of one pitch will be hopefully be met by the redevelopment of Ruskin Drive.


Complete

Provision should be focussed on school sites to maximise daytime and evening usage and provide a critical mass of provision for community use

The pitches at Rainhill High has been completed and are now open to the community. There is still a deficiency of one pitch which will hopefully be met by the redevelopment of Ruskin Drive.


Complete


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Potential new provision should focus on either side of the town centre potential sites to the north are; Cowley Language College, Queens Park or Ruskin Leisure Limited, to the south Sherdley Business Park, and a 60m x 40m provision at Rainhill High School

The pitch at Rainhill High and Cowley High have been completed and is now open to the community. There is still a deficiency of one pitch will be hopefully be met by the redevelopment of Ruskin Drive.


Complete

Priority to protect existing provision at Rainford High School, Haydock Sports College and St.Cuthberts Catholic High School

Rainford High School – Sports Development have brought together the school and Rainford Rangers FC to explore the possibility of upgrading the schools existing sand based surface to 3G, work to achieve this is ongoing. St.Cuthberts High School – in a joint planning exercise with the County Football Association and Sports Development the school was identified as a potential site for a pitch as part of the CFA’s IMD (index of multi deprivation) scheme. They are looking to develop pitches in deprived areas and this site has the highest level of deprivation of any they have been able to identify in their area. Work is now underway with the School and its governors.


Progressing

Selwyn Jones is a key strategic site and replacement of the existing surface should be prioritised, with consideration of the surface dependent on other developments (above)

The synthetic pitch at Selwyn Jones was refurbished this year with both the carpet and fencing being replaced. The decision was taken to retain the sand based surface to allow the site to continue to accommodate hockey.


Completed

Seek to address the gap in provision in the Billinge and Seneley Green and Moss Bank areas of the borough

Outstanding

The strategy is being revised as part of the borough’s Open Space, Sports and Recreational Assessment and it will cover the period 2015- 2020


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Open Space Sport and Recreational Assessment (OSSRA)

“Planning for the Future”

The Council commissioned Knight Kavanagh and Page (KKP) to undertake an Assessment of the borough’s Open Space, Sports and Recreational Facilities. The study followed the Sport England approved structure containing three elements:

Playing Pitch Strategy;

Non-pitch indoor and outdoor sports facility assessment;

Open space assessment.

It was agreed that for survey purposes non-pitch sports would be considered alongside pitch sports as they aligned better with that assessment procedure. MUGAs were also to be considered under the open space section and AGPs would form part of the playing pitch assessments.

Consultation is key to the development of a meaningful strategy and KKP with the support of the Sports Development Team has engaged with a high proportion of the boroughs clubs. A summary of the response rates is set out below;

Sport No. of clubs based in the borough.

% of Clubs responded.

% of Teams responded.

Football 57 79 89

Cricket 8 75 82

Rugby Union 4 75 96

Rugby League 13 62 93

Hockey 1 100 100

Bowls 38 66 Unknown

Tennis 4 100 100

The final strategies will cover all public facilities both private and educational. The final drafts of the documents will be consulted on in April 2015 with the aim that the final documents will be signed off by both the Council and its key strategic sports partners by June 2015.


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Delivering Effectively St.Helens Plan Priority: Be Open, Accessible and Transparent

Scrutiny Panel – Community Use of School Sports Facilities

“Sports Club access to school facilities doubles”

Sports Development secured £106,000 of funding from Sport England to support a project which aims to establish a conduit by which links between clubs and schools can be strengthened, increasing community use and establishing formal links between schools and designated sports clubs. The focus was on two elements, Community Access to the facilities for clubs and set up and development of Satellite Clubs.

Community Access

As a result of the increased focus on promotion of school facilities, community use has risen from the figure of 162 hours per week in 2009 to 269 hours in 2014 and continuing to increase to a figure of 323 hours in January 2015. It should be recognised that increases of community use have resulted due to a number of factors:

An increase focus placed on community use by the schools and their staff.

The promotion and increased awareness of the sports facilities available within the community, by Sports Development.

The development of new school sports facilities at many high schools.

The funding of a Community Access to School Facilities and Satellite Sports Club Project funded by Sport England, which commenced in May 2014.


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During the first year of the project 11 clubs have been sign-posted to schools resulting in 25 hours of community use, this represents an increase of 8.3% per week. There were many other clubs who have been signposted but these may to date not have resulted in any firm bookings. The table below provides details of those clubs who have been signposted by the project and now use school facilities:

School Club Booking Estimated Annual Value1

Hope Simple Netball 2 x 3 hours Outdoor Courts (15 Weeks) £1,800

Cowley St.Helens RGC 2 x 3 hours Gymnasium £5,670

Rainhill Knowsley South FC 2 x 1 hours MUGA £2,700

De La Salle St.Helens Basketball 1 x 1 hour Sports Hall £1,925

Hope Simple Netball 1 x 3 hour Sports Hall (15 Weeks) £1,575

Rainhill Rainhill United FC U13’s 2 x 1 hour MUGA £2,700

Cowley Complete Netball 1 x 1 hour Sports Hall £1,530

Haydock St.Helens Basketball 1 x 1 hour Sports Hall £1,035

Rainford Sutton Badminton 1 x 1 hour Sports Hall £945

Hope Complete Netball 1 x 1 hour Sports Hall £1,125

Rainhill Sutton Tornados 1 x 1 hour Gymnasium £833

Total 25 hours £21,838 Satellite Clubs The year one target for the project was to establish 4 Satellite clubs, after 11 months 7 are established and discussions are taking place with St. Augustine of Canterbury Catholic High School to create a Girls Rugby League club. In addition to exceeding the target for the number of clubs, all of the sports could be considered to be minority sports in the borough and they were also chosen with the aim of increasing female participation and opportunity.

1 Income based on specific schools charges assuming a 45 week letting period unless otherwise stated


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The table below shows the Satellite Clubs established so far within the borough:

Sport School Club Date Started

Dance St Cuthberts Watch This Space 25th Sept 2014

Netball Cowley Complete Netball Solutions 30th Sept 2014

Netball Hope Complete Netball Solutions 2nd Oct 2014

Basketball De La Salle St.Helens Basketball Club 5th Nov 2014

Badminton Rainford Sutton Badminton Club 14th Jan 2015

Basketball Haydock St.Helens Basketball Club 2nd March 2015

Cheerleading Rainhill Sutton Tornados 25th March 2015

A report on the project will be submitted to the Association of Secondary Heads and Sport England at the end of May when the outcomes will be discussed and decisions made on how the project will move forward.

St.Helens Council Graduate Scheme

2014 was the first year Sports Development participated in the Council’s Graduate programme offering the opportunity for a graduate to develop skills and support the Sports Development team in a number of specific projects including;

The organisation of inter-school sporting competitions typically involving twenty to thirty schools.

Training Course organisation and the facilitation of discussion groups at the annual sports club conference

Producing written material for the website, newsletter and other publications

Conducting customer research, evaluating the findings and producing reports recommending improvements


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Leading on the SmokeFree Touchline project

Completing an Inspection Framework for all sessions delivered by sports development and some of our partners.

The role has given Sports Development Service the opportunity to complete some tasks not previously undertaken in order to improve our service delivery to the community.

Marketing

Website

The improvement of the website has continued to prove invaluable in helping the Sports Development team communicate with the boroughs schools, clubs and general public. Throughout the year it has been kept up to date and informative giving the best service possible to all visitors. Articles are updated each month promoting different sporting events and milestones and providing links to local clubs and National Governing Bodies. The website has allowed us to effectively

communicate with clubs advising on topics such as funding, coach education, events and Sports Development projects. This resource has helped to


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improve our communication links and now the website is regularly visited as a source of accurate up to date information. Social Media The Sports Development Team use both Twitter and Facebook to promote activities and communicate with clubs and potential participants. Both the Sports Development and Youth Sport Twitter feeds are widely followed by over 1100 accounts. There are currently 400+ followers on Facebook quickly exceeding our initial target of 150. Facebook is the less popular of our 2 platforms, with most of our clubs utilising Twitter. During our monitoring of the Sports Development Youth Sport account during March 2015 a total of 50 tweets alone reached 86,779 different accounts and made 141,778 impressions (total number of times tweets have been delivered to individual timelines) Campaigns Both the Fit Forever activities and the Community Sport Activation Project have a designated marketing and promotion budget identified within the funding agreement and consequently they have benefited from a broader and creative promotional approach. This has included a number of press articles raising the profile within the community, printing of posters, leaflets and t-shirts to increase the branding awareness. E-Newsletter The E-Newsletter has continued to be an effective communication tool with the boroughs sports clubs. It allows us to share information on a wide range of topics including funding initiatives, ongoing projects and local success stories. Over the last year we have increased the number of email contacts for the E-Newsletter, rising to over 440 individual email addresses with a unique opening rate of 33% - 42% which is widely recognised as being well above the national average. The success of the newsletter has been evidenced by the increased website and email traffic following specific features in the newsletter. This highlights the effectiveness of the E-Newsletter and therefore strengthens our links with the Boroughs sporting clubs.


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Sports Development Attendance Information

“Sports Development Attendances exceed 41,000 in 2014/15” This section of the report provides information on the Sports Development Services performance over the year, where appropriate making comparisons with previous years.

Sports Development has a single performance indicator contained within the Council’s Performance Management Framework. This indicator measures total attendances at all activities delivered by or funded by sports development. An annual target is set based on the resources confirmed at the start of the financial year however over the course of the year additional funding is secured which in turn may result in increased attendances. 2014/15 has been the most successful year yet for the service with the development of three new projects: Community Use of Schools and Satellite Sports Clubs, Fit Forever and the Community Sports Activation Project, these have resulted in attendances topping 41,000.

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

Actual2010/11

Actual2011/12

Actual2012/13

Actual2013/14

Target2014/15

Actual2014/15

Total Sports Development Attendances


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Sports Development Performance Indicators 2014/15

Ref Description Annual Target

Outurn

% of Target Achieved

1 Attendance at Coach Education Courses 300 351 +17

2 External grant applications supported 50 18 -64

3 School sports competitons organised 50 93 +86

4 Attendance at school sports competitions 3,000 6,170 +106

5 Youth Sport Sessions Delivered 400 688 +72

6 Attendance at Youth Sports Sessions 6,750 10,780 +14

7 Atten. at 60+ Sessions delivered by Sports Development 3,020 3,428 +114

8 No. of 60+ males Registered at Sessions delivered by Sports Development 200 221 +11

9 Attendance at Sportivate Sessions delivered by Sports Development 1,866 3,100 +66

10 Number of individual participants registered with the CSAF Project 137 227 +102

11 Number of Attendances at the CSAF Project 1,904 1,153 -39

12 Attendance at Other sports development sessions 13,063 13,893 +6

13 Attendance at All Sports Development sessions 28,000 41,410 +48

14 No. of E Newsletter Reciepiants who opened it 220 165 -25

Notes:

1. Coach Education courses are supported by Adult and Community Education which allows a comprehensive programme to be offered 2. The service introduced a target to measure the support it provides to voluntary sector clubs and other organisatios this target is however

dependent on other ambitions and resources to develop projects for which funding can be sought. A combination of the recession and a reduction in available grants has meant the number of grant applications has fallen for the 46 last year

3. The target of 50 is the number of competitons this externally funded project is required to organise, St.Helens approach to the school games has meant this figure has almost doubled and 93 competitions equates to an average of 3 each week of the school term

4. Competitions are only a success if attendance is high and this indicator measures this, once again the actual is double the target 5. Historically the Youth Sport Programme has received funding from the Youth Service this year due to the austerity measures this funding

was not available forcing alternative funding to be sourced, much of this was only secured in part way through the year. Due to the success of funding applications almost twice as many sessions have been delivered than was first anticipated.


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6. Attendances have yet again been high an the programme continues to reach many young people who without the sessions would be physically inactive.

7. The 60 plus sessions, branded “Fit For Ever” have achieved the stretching targets set for it by Public Health who commission the work 8. The 60 plus attendances have also achieved the stretching targets set for it by Public Health. 9. Sports Development bid annually to deliver the Sportivate programme and once again its success in delivering outcomes for funders has

resulted in additonal investment which in turn has resulted in performance exceeding the original target. 10. The Community Sport Activation Project only started in the Autumn so the weather has a major impact on its ability to deliver sesions

however its is already engaging with twice as many people than its target 11. Attendances at Community Sport Activation Project is however below target as the number of sessions delivered by the project is below

target for its first six months, however with the onset of the better weather it is anticipated this will be recovered in the final two quarters, next year this target will be better profiled to reflect this seasonal variation.

12. This indicator measures the other sessions and activities delievered by the service such as the Community Cricket programme, attendance in this area is in line with the target forecast at the start of the year

13. 2014/15 has been the most successful year yet for the service with the development of three new projects: Community Use of Schools and Satellite Sports Clubs, Fit Forever and the Community Sports Activation Project, these have resulted in attendances topping 41,000

14. The e newsleter is a key tool for the team to communicate with its key partners the sports clubs as such it is closely monitored to ensure it remains effective, the industry standard for e newsletters is approximately 20% the sports development target was ambitiously set at 50%. Out turning at 165 represents 35% which is well above the norm.

Financial Information

Sports Development Expenditure 2013/14

2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15

Employees 270,667 292,406 243,758 254,257 331,538

Premises 13,466 5,774 5,661 3,940 4,194

Transport 7,081 7,239 3,912 3,548 4,330

Supplies and Service 45,944 45,607 81,192 72,820 102,700

Agency and Contracted Staff 6,204 1,204 28,246 0 10,894

Total £ 343,362 £ 352,230 £ 362,769 £ 334,575 £ 453,656

** Sports Development’s core budget is £236,155 and the additional £217,501 has been secured from external funding partners giving the total spend of £453,656 for 2014/15.


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Grant Aid

“£1 ¾ Million secured for sports projects this year” The sports development team works both with other Council teams and the voluntary sector to secure investment from a range of funding bodies to support both the development of facilities and the delivery of sports programmes. Regrettably austerity measures have reduced the range and value of grants available and this has impacted on performance in this area.

Grants secured by Sports Development for use by St.Helens Council in 2014/15

Funder

Project Grant Value

Sport England School Games £3,613

Sport England School Games £31,733

Sport England Ruskin Drive Improvements £500,000

Sport England Sportivate £23,545

Sport England Community Sport Activation £250,000

Sport England School/Community Sports Facilities £166,000

Football Foundation Ruskin Drive Improvements £500,000

StreetGames St.Helens Council 18,000

StreetGames St.Helens Council 2,193

Totals £1,495,084


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Grants secured by / with Sports Development for clubs

Funding Body Recipient Grant Value

Sport England Small Grants

St.Helens Archery Club 8,475

St.Helens Rythmic Gym Club 6,913

Muttley Crew Archers 9,048

Prescot Hockey Club 9,400

Newton Cricket Club 3,950

Sport England Inspired Facilities St.Helens Gymnastics Centre 75,000

Earlestown Athletic 50,000

Cory EVT Earlestown Athletic 77,212

St.Helens District Sports Council St.Helens Archery Club 400

Coalfields Regeneration Fund Sutton Stars Netball Club 4,800

Total 245,198

In total this year Sports Development has been responsible for securing 18 grants totalling £1,740,282

The next table seeks to illustrate the changing funding landscape over recent years and the increased priority the team has placed on helping groups and individuals secure grants.

2009/10 2010/11 2011/12 2012/13 2013/14 2014/15 Total

Value of known awards £193,927 £1,112,239 £689,769 £667,063 £683,693 £1,740,282 £5,086,973.00

Value of known Awards Supported by the Sports Development Team

£44,288 £1,093,164 £689,769 £667,063

£633,693 £1,740,282 £4,868,259.00

No of Successful Applications 51 61 52 61 15 19 258

No. of Applications supported by Sports Development

38 51 52 61 46 21 269

Average value of grant received £3,802 £18,233 £13,264 £10,936 £44,853 £91,593 £19,716

Over the past five years Sports Development has secured or helped others to secure almost £5 million of external funding.

Contact CentreWesley HouseCorporation StreetSt.HelensWA10 1HF

Tel: 01744 676789Minicom: 01744 671671Email: [email protected]➜ www.sthelens.gov.uk

For further details on any of the information contained within this report please contact:

David BoocockSports DevelopmentAtlas HouseCorporation StreetSt.HelensWA9 1LD

Tel: 01744 675400Email: [email protected]

Please contact us to request translation of Council information into Braille, audio tape or a foreign language.

[email protected]

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