AMT Public

Press release: 28 September 2009

Community Sport Coaches in Trowbridge wins top market town award in the South West

A local town council worked with several partners to provide over 300 sessions of sport every week in schools while providing free community sessions during each of the holidays at zero cost to the council was named winner of the South West Market Town Awards.

Through providing support and training to community volunteers Trowbridge Town Council are helping to build the capacity of the local communities to provide accessible activities supervised by trained and qualified staff. Volunteers are now able to access training free of charge and use equipment from the council to provide a range of activities and sports.

The council has reduced costs to the local schools by 70% for this service which was previously bought in from other providers and increased the number of children participating in sport by more than 300. The programme is meeting a number of initiatives including ‘Every Child Matters, Child Hood Obesity, More People More Active More of the Time, Active Life Styles, Combating Anti Social Behaviour and Building Community Capacity.

The project is so innovative that Train to Gain / National Skills Academy have asked them to sit on the South West Regional Development Board and feel that this could potentially be rolled as a National Initiative.
Future funding is secure through the Teachers Development Agency for the next 3 years and beyond that point each school will have a business plan to sustain each of the projects indefinitely using existing budgets and subscriptions from users for activities.

Trowbridge Community Sport Coaches was also named the winner of the Social & Community category.

Other category winners were:

Business and Economy category: On View Art project in Dursley is a pioneering initiative which has converted windows of vacant shops in Dursley into temporary art galleries, creating town centre vitality during the recession. It benefits surrounding businesses, landlords and local artists and is an inexpensive way to increase footfall and improve the streetscape.

Environment and Culture category: Old Railway Heritage (Community Project for Ilminster, Donyatt, Knowle St Giles and Chard, Somerset) is an excellent example of joined up thinking and how a group of volunteers from Ilminster, Donyatt, Knowle St Giles and Chard have worked together on a heritage project linking their communities along part of NCN Route 33 (The Stop Line Way). The Heritage Lottery Fund awarded them a grant of £48,600 to enhance the 5-mile stretch of cycle track.

Partnership & Strategic Working category: “What makes Stur so special’ in Sturminster Newton demonstrates the strength of the continuing community led regeneration within the town and the surrounding area. Achievements that have contributed to this are the relocation of the Museum into the town centre, the award of Best Food Town in Dorset 2008 and the adoption of the Town Design Statement.

The South West Market Town Awards are part of the National Market Town Awards run by Action for Market Towns which each year celebrate the great variety of volunteer-led projects that are helping to regenerate and sustain small towns throughout the country. The Awards were presented the Gloucestershire Market Town Forum’s AGM in Wootton-under-Edge on Thursday 24th September 2009.

Ends

For further press information on the market town awards, please contact: John Pole on 01430 441557. E-mail: john.pole@towns.org.uk

To contact the Community Sport Coaches, Trowbridge project, ring Steve Nash on 01225 765 072 or
Email steve@trowbridge.gov.uk

Market Town Awards homepage