Energize, in partnership with Donnington Community Hub, Telford Mind, Shropshire Cycle Hub and Telford & Wrekin Council, has distributed £25,500 of funding from the Sports Council Trust Company to organisations working in Donnington to provide sport, physical activity and wellbeing activities for local residents. 

"It's giving opportunities to people who wouldn't have had this this chance without the funding" Donnington Community Hub

The funding took a 'place-based' approach, aiming to tackle inequalities in activity levels by working with local partner organisations to reach those most in need in the Donnington area. 

 

The First applications for the project were received in September 2021, with a total of 9 projects funded as part of the project as outlined below:

• Shropshire Cycle Hub Everyday Cycling Project – Providing cycling activities including group
  cycle rides
• POD’s – Activities for children and young people with special educational needs and
  disabilities.
• Zumba – Adults Zumba classes, targeting women.
• Donnington Boxing Club - Family Boxing with a focus on attracting mums and young
  children.
• Shropshire Cricket Board – Holiday and indoor cricket sessions for children
• Bollywood Bhangra Fitkids – Dance and fitness activities for children aged 7-11.
• Age UK Line Dancing – Line Dancing for older adults.
• Donnington and Muxton Youth Club – Active Gaming sessions for children and young people.
• Telford MIND – Walk and Talk mental health and wellbeing sessions for adults experiencing
  mental ill health.

"One of the biggest successes from the project is the steering group and seeing what we can contribute by collaborating with others" Telford Mind

From the offset our ambition was to support community groups and organisations working in the Donnington community to embed physical activity within their provision, including in their ethos, policies and values. From the evaluation conducted so far, it is evident that the initiative has made successful strides towards this ambition, creating and sustaining new opportunities for local residents in Donnington to get physically active.

Across the initiative there were numerous successes and challenges identified, from the ongoing impacts of Covid-19, the successes and difficulties in finding suitable local venues, high participant numbers resulting in waiting lists, as well as some activities experiencing a lack of participants. Although there is no one size fits all when implementing a place-based approach, the following components proved crucial in this initiative:

• Having a shared vision, goals and outcomes that were realistic.
• Use of data as well as lived experience to understand Donnington and the local area.
• Support and commitment from partners and local organisations to drive momentum.
• Taking advantage of local assets and utilising trusted relationships in the Donnington area.
• Having an open and positive mindset, focusing on the strengths of and opportunities available
  to the Donnington community rather than a focus on solving problems.
• Engaging communities and partners in design and delivery to tailor programmes to need.

As a result of this project, further funding has been invested into the Donnington community. The findings of this initiative demonstrate that bringing cross-sector organisations together to address the underlying causes of inactivity and other social problems, in a more holistic and more joined-up way has many benefits and is effective.

Read the full report on this project with details on all the projects here