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Celebration of Northumberland's Young Sporting Volunteers

Former Olympian, Commonwealth Games silver medalist and Sporting Champion, Alison Curbishley, was recently guest of honour at Newcastle Race Course to help celebrate the achievements of Northumberland’s young sporting volunteers through the Step into Sport programme.

Step into Sport is essentially a programme designed to engage young people aged 16-19 and encourage them to volunteer within quality community clubs in their county.

Organised and delivered by Northumberland Sport and funded by Sport England, young volunteers and club and school representatives were invited from across the county to celebrate the achievements of these young volunteers, which have helped make a real impact in the local communities in Northumberland.

Northumberland Sport Chairman Steve Cram MBE and Dame Tanni GreyThompson, both huge supporters of the Step into Sport programme sent messages of encouragement to the young volunteers at the award ceremony via a video link. Both explained how volunteers have been key in their own achievements and how volunteers are still the life blood for sport in Britain today. Both also emphasised the significant part volunteers will play in delivering a successful London 2012 Olympic & Paralympic Games.

To help recognise just some of the magnificent achievements of these volunteers, many of which have provided in excess of 100 volunteer hours for their local clubs and to recognise the support provided by school mentors and local volunteer co-ordinators, awards were presented to them by Alison Curbishley. Winners of these awards were James Sander from King Edward VI High School for Best Male Volunteer and Stephanie Felton from Berwick Community High School for Best Female Volunteer. June Lomax from Prudhoe Community High School was presented with an award for best school mentor and Steve Richardson from Green Lane Disabled and Able Bodied Archers received an award for best Volunteer Co-ordinator.

Event organiser Neville Duncan of Northumberland Sport said “We’re really pleased to have hosted this event, which recognises the tremendous success of the Step into Sport programme and the dedication, motivation and enthusiasm shown by our young volunteers, clubs and School Sport Partnerships.

I would like to congratulate our award winners, which are all richly deserved for their efforts. Alison Curbishley’s speech proved to be a real inspiration and hopefully will encourage these young volunteers to continue their volunteer activities, which will hopefully continue to provide the leadership and confidence skills required in later life.”

Judith Rasmussen, Regional Director with Sport England North East, said: “The Step into Sport celebration evening proved a great success. Sport survives on people giving time for free and making it happen and there are a whole network of volunteers out there making a real difference in their local communities. Sadly they are often the unsung heroes of sport so it’s fantastic to see young people being recognised and rewarded for their volunteering activities at their local clubs.

“Current sport volunteers are aging so with the London 2012 Games on the horizon it’s wonderful have so many young, enthusiastic volunteers in the region. We thank them for the work they do and hope they continue to volunteer, or indeed make a career, in sport.”