Sport Birmingham
Creating long-lasting legacy for local communities following the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Our partnership with Sport Birmingham, Birmingham City Council, The Active Wellbeing Society and the Canal And River Trust, comes through the Commonwealth Active Communities fund, to improve facilities and level up access to community sport, creating long-lasting legacy for local communities following the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Together, we’re embarking on 5 community projects in 2023, across five wards with the greatest levels of inactivity and low socio-economic mobility, to improve the quality and access to sport and physical activity for the local community. Here’s what we’ve been up to so far.
Ackers Adventure, Sparkbrook
To help fulfil Ackers’ ambitions to create their own Paddle Club, we and 16 local young people transformed an empty shipping container into a safe canoe storage hub, through handmade wooden shelving stands, to help them store their canoes right by the water’s edge.
Since the project, Ackers have improved their offer to the local community ‘a lot’ and increased participation levels from young people, the elderly, people from low socio-economic and minority ethnic groups.
“The works VIY have completed have furthered our ambitions to expand the Paddle Club. Without the storage they have created, we would struggle to accommodate more members, as we simply would not be able to keep our canoes safe.
Now we can finally invite more of the local community to join us on the canals, doing something active right on their doorstep. Thanks to all of the local young people who helped transform our storage container!”
Andy Train, Leader, Paddlesports Hub, Ackers Adventure
Concord Youth Centre, Sparkbrook
As a vital facility for local young people in a ward of high deprivation, inactivity and unemployment, used for sports, employment advice and generally a safe space to be, we helped to make the youth centre more inviting for further activity through a full redecoration of the centre in their club colours, as well as creating storage solutions in an empty cupboard to expand their gym/sports offer.
“I wanted to thank you and your team for all the work they did in the centre and all the staff young people and the school appreciate the work you guys did. So BIG THANKS AGAIN!”
Adill, Centre Manager, Concord Youth Centre
Saltley Stallions FC, Bordesley Green
This club was created to help remove the cultural and other barriers for women to play football. In partnership with Barclays Community Football Fund, here we divided the changing rooms, enabled male/female toilets and created social seating areas, all to help existing and new players, particularly young female Muslim players, and their friends and families to feel included and welcome in their sporting environment. All with the help of 20 local young people, the majority of whom have refugee status here in Birmingham.
