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Local Heroes are awarded

Local Heroes are awarded 

16 people from the North East have been awarded certificates of recognition for their dedication and commitment to provide children in the West End of Newcastle access to free sporting activities during the summer holidays.

Local Heroes Festival is a 3 day event co-ordinated by the Hat Trick Project in Newcastle. It involves over 15 sports and activities and more than 10 different organisations pulled together with the aim of inspiring hundreds of local young people to take part in sport.

The Tony Blair Sports Foundation (TBSF), through its training and recruitment programme of sports coaches, supplied volunteers during the summer to help with the programme, which reached out to over 300 children.  Tennis and indoor rowing were introduced to the festival this year with indoor rowing machines provided by TBSF.

Peter Carmichael who is a TBSF tennis coach and helped throughout the summer with the project said:

“This has been a great experience for me and has given me the opportunity to work with other coaches as well as all the children and young people who have taken part in Local Heroes, I’ve certainly gained a great deal from it.”

The festival ended with an awards evening held at Centre for Sport where 15 young volunteers were given Young Leaders Awards and became members of the Tony Blair Sports Foundation which will allow them to take a Level 1 coaching or officials course in their chosen sport.

However, the most prestigious recognition of 'Local Hero 2010' was awarded to Amin Kashy. The trophy was presented to Amin by Arlene Ainsley, Membership Recruitment and Development Manager at the Tony Blair Sports Foundation. Amin will go on to do his Level 2 Football coaching with funding provided by TBSF.

Arlene said:

"It has been a fantastic evening. Seeing how excited the children were and hearing about how much fun they’d had, the atmosphere was great. It is events like this which show exactly the impact that sport can have on a local community."

She went on to say:

"School holidays in particular can sometimes be difficult for parents, but what a better way to keep the children happy – and healthy - than through sport?  The Foundation works hard to recruit people to become sports coaches, and then place them within communities to make a real difference. This is a great example of what can be achieved by working in partnership with others across our region and we look forward to working with the project again next year.”

Mark Oliver, Manager of the Hat Trick Project expressed his thanks and gratitude to TBSF for the help and support given to make Local Heroes such a success.