Last week, over 50 people from Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin came together to celebrate the huge impact that Sport England's recent funding, disseminated by Energize STW, has made across the County.

Nearly 100 local voluntary, community-based physical activity providers have benefitted from a share of over £320,000 grant funding between 2020-2023 to deliver activity projects supporting people most-in-need in their communities.

The event brought together local activity providers, sports clubs, groups, organisations as well as stakeholders from Shropshire Council, Telford & Wrekin Council, NHS and more. The event offered a chance to share and learn about how the funding invested has enabled thousands of local people to be active and understand, first-hand from participants who engaged in the activities, the life-improving and enhancing effects experienced as a result.

Visitors to the event, which was held at University Centre Shrewsbury, were able to meet and network, as well as attend a selection of themed sessions which included top tips to take away to help their activity provision or organisation to grow and thrive in 2024 and beyond.

The themed sessions covered:

• Connecting to the health system: Physical Activity, the miracle cure!
• Climate change - what has that got to do with us?
• Diversity and Inclusion - The Power of the Tiny Change.
• Building Capacity - Exploring workforce and funding opportunities.

The sessions were provided by Community Resource, Qube, Shropshire Infrastructure Partnership in Shropshire, Telford & Wrekin Council, Ignition CIC, Telford Mind, TELDOC-NHS and Energize STW.

Amy Griffiths, Empowering Communities Manager at Energize STW reflected on her thoughts following the event:

The event was a real showcase of the best of our voluntary community sport and physical activity sector, with a real demonstration of the ongoing hard work and commitment to reducing health inequalities and barriers to accessing activity to improve people's lives across Shropshire, Telford and Wrekin."

"We were thrilled with the outcome of the event, not only the fantastic turnout but the energy and enthusiasm of the attendees was infectious! We're very excited to see what 2024 has in store and to continue our work in supporting the sector to thrive and strive.

Here you can see our video which captured the event:

Please click here for more information about how Energize can support local clubs, groups and organisations to benefit from funding to sustain physical activity provisions.