Published: 24/07/2023
Making Fitness Accessible CIC, Holton St Mary, Suffolk
The 500 Club are pleased to announce TWO nominations for July!
The first being Sensory Gym including LifeGlider project with Making Fitness Accessible CIC. The Sensory Gym will be based in Holton St Mary, Suffolk.
Making Fitness Accessible CIC believe in creating an inclusive environment for everybody, changing lives through physical activity. Their founding director Matt Brinkley is an inclusive exercise specialist. He previously worked as a support worker, helping adults who have a learning disability in the community. This gave him a good understanding about the lack of activity opportunities available for the people he was working with.
The space for the Sensory Gym is within a existing gym area, and they are looking to start work on the as soon as possible. This will be a template with a view to building and creating similar facilities nationwide, which is really exciting.
We look forward to hearing more about the project as it progresses. Read more here.
The Dry Skate Project, Colchester
The second is The Dry Skate Project in Colchester.
Local skaters and business owners have launched a Community Interest Company to provide an indoor competition standard skatepark.
They believe that enabling skaters and all the wheeled sports to have access to an indoor facility all year round, will help to galvanise extreme sports in their area, and help make them viable sporting options (as apposed to a summer hobbies) where participants can practice and develop their skills to a high standard. The CIC already have a very strong scene of core skateboarders in Colchester and Essex, a few of which have become pro. The space will not only support them, but also offer all the benefits of extreme sports to a whole new wave of people.
Giles Butcher, who founded the Dry Skate Project with George Bourne, said they would like to use our donation towards buying more equipment so they can offer further free coaching slots per session as they have had to turn people away as they've not got enough kit. And also put the rest towards another coaching session in a deprived area of Colchester they haven't been able to reach yet.
Find out more here.