This Christmas, we were proud to host our first ever Christmas Club, a free social sports event for all children and adults with a disability
The Christmas Club held at The Castle Centre, Elephant & Castle on the 28th December 2018, saw 48 Community Club members plus family members and carers, join our festive celebrations.
The new event included a few hours of heart-raising adapted activities including Relays, Beachball and Cricket with a free social Christmas lunch, having worked up quite the appetite!
The event was part of our recently launched ‘Unity – Community Clubs tackling isolation and loneliness’initiative that aims to inspire more disabled people to be socially connected through sport.
Louis Wickett-Padgham, Business Development Manager said: “It was thoroughly enjoyable event and given the large number of attendees, clearly much needed. It’s evident that disabled people are more likely to be lonely and isolated, particularly during the Christmas and New Year period. This year we listened to our members and wanted to act.
Our weekly Community Clubs give disabled people a fantastic opportunity to be active and stay healthy, but we wanted to do more than just sport at this event. We wanted our members to chat, laugh and enjoy spending time with each other, so the extra social Christmas lunch really helped and was very well received by all.”
Many thanks go to all staff, volunteers, parents and carers who helped support the event and to all those that gave kind donations. Special thanks go to Sainsbury’s Local Great Dover Street for generously providing the food and drinks.
We are all likely to be isolated or lonely but nearly half of disabled people are chronically lonely with a staggering 67% feeling lonely in the past year. In addition, 43% of disabled children are turned away from Christmas activities (Scope, 2017).
Launched on the 3rd December 2018 and the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, ‘Unity – Community Clubs tackle isolation & loneliness’ aims to inspire more disabled people to be socially connected through sport.
By submitting your email address you agree to let Disability Sports Coach send you updates, news and events. We will never pass your email address on to third parties or send you spam. You can opt out any time.
