Welcome to our latest news!
Here you will find the latest news from what the charity is getting up to...
Christmas Extravaganza at Downtown Grantham a Success with the Support of inspire+ Sports Leaders Downtown Department Store and Garden Centre Grantham welcomed over 30,000 customers during the weekend of their magical Christmas Extravaganza. The event was a strong success for Lincolnshire’s premier independent retailer.
As a key sponsor of Grantham-based Sports Charity, inspire+, Downtown were delighted to offer their Sports Leaders volunteering opportunities throughout the weekend. With over 70 volunteers, the ambassadors were provided with various opportunities to expand their skills; from assisting customers with choosing their Christmas trees to demonstrating the toys on the Toy Department. Whilst enjoying their eagerness and willingness to help, customers were keen to express their thanks and compliments to the team at inspire+.
inspire+ serve schools in South Kesteven and wider Lincolnshire with over 200 trained Sports Leaders. These young leaders will be supporting numerous events throughout 2019, allowing them the chance to enhance their experiences, which will inevitably provide them valuable skills for their futures. Oldrids & Downtown and inspire+ will be working closely together to deliver projects covering various initiatives and objectives to invest in opportunities for the Sports Leadership Academy.
Marc Blackman, Leadership Manager at inspire+ said: "It is fantastic to have Oldrids & Downtown as sponsors for our Sports Leadership Academy this year as each year we train over 100 young people, who are enthusiastic to give back to their schools and the community. What better way to do this by teaming up with one of the largest names in Lincolnshire. Oldrids & Downtown believe in the work that we have been doing with our local young people and the benefit that our initiative has had and continues to have within the local community. We see that this partnership will enable our young people to have an opportunity to gain further invaluable experience which will help them in the future.”
Richard Broadhead, Managing Director at Oldrids & Downtown said: "We have been delighted to work with the team at inspire+ over the course of this year. As sponsors of the Sports Leadership Academy, we are really proud to play a part in supporting the personal development of over 100 local, young people. I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all the inspire+ volunteers who really helped to make our Christmas Extravaganza weekend even more special for our valued customers. They did a great job and their energy, enthusiasm and desire to please our customers was inspiring!
On Thursday 1st November the annual Lincolnshire Sports Awards took place at the Lincolnshire showground. Organised by Active Lincolnshire as a celebration of the sporting achievements across Lincolnshire, the night was attended by 350 people from clubs, businesses and schools. The night honoured the athletes, coaches and volunteers who have made a difference to sport and physical activity over the past year.
Local sports volunteer and inspire+ Senior Young Ambassador, Logan Grieh who attends the Priory Ruskin Academy was nominated as a finalist for Young Volunteer of the Year alongside 2 others very deserve local finalists.
It was with delight that Logan was chosen as this year’s winner and presented his award by Olympic Bronze medallist, swimmer Steve Parry.
Logan has been a volunteer for inspire+ for over 4 years and has put in hundreds of hours volunteering at local clubs, competitions and community events whilst more recently being a key player in the charities Young Ambassador steering group, taking on roles helping to run events such as the Mini Olympics.
On winning the award Logan said, “It was an honour to even be nominated for the Young Sports Volunteer of the Year Award but then, to find out I had been shortlisted to the top three was fantastic. I was absolutely thrilled when they announced I was the winner, if not a little surprised! I absolutely love my role as Gold Ambassador within the inspire+ organisation and enjoy all my volunteer work during all the different sporting events. The best part of being a volunteer is to see the kids enjoying themselves, making sports fun with a little competitiveness thrown in! As a volunteer my main aim is simple, if the kids have left a well organised event with a smile on their face and have been inspired to try a new sport or continue with one they are passionate about, then I have done my job. Thank you to all at inspire+ for allowing me to be part of their organisation.”
inspire+ is extremely proud that one of its young volunteers has been recognised by the county for their hard work and dedication. Logan is one of over 350 Young Ambassadors and Sports Leaders who volunteer and receive training through inspire+ to benefit the lives of young people through sport. inspire+ Operations Manager, Chris Graves said “We are delighted for Logan to win this award. He thoroughly deserves it for the hours are volunteering he has given in the local schools and community. Logan is a credit to inspire+ and we are very proud to have seen his development from joining the Sports Leadership Academy in year 9.”
More than 40 pupils in Year 10 and above from 5 Grantham schools were given the opportunity to learn key skills, including leadership, communication and applying for jobs at a Business Skills Academy event at the Jubilee Church Life Centre last week.
This year’s conference was opened by InvestSK CEO Steve Bowyer, who Commented that “It was a real privilege to be involved with the inspire+ Business Skills Academy: not only does it demonstrate that there are young people locally who are putting themselves forward in terms of leadership development, but also that they are genuinely keen to explore what their future careers might look like and what skills they will need for that. I was really impressed with the positive attitude of the young people: this is an invaluable quality in anyone that a business is looking to recruit. The event was also testament to the passion of local businesses to drive South Kesteven’s future economic growth. The likes of BGB and Viking Signs are business pioneers nurturing new talent through apprenticeships, and Specsavers and SKDC are demonstrating significant commitment in supporting the development of young people through a range of mechanisms.”
James Tupper, Marketing Manager at BGB added “It was great to see the young leaders really engaged throughout the day, especially with learning more about the BGB products we had on show. It’s always a worthwhile experience, and the young adults really get a good insight into what is needed when going for that first job interview, and more importantly, start thinking about what career path to follow.”
The attendees came from Priory Ruskin Academy, Walton Girls’ High School, West Grantham Academy St Hugh’s, Kesteven and Grantham Girls’ School and The Kings School Grantham. They were all able to take part in a series of workshops including researching companies for work, interview techniques, CV writing and body language. Following the conference, all the students now have the opportunity to apply for work experience placements at the participating businesses.
