Families from 2,400 households in Northumberland and Tyne & Wear will soon be receiving free activity packs to encourage vulnerable and isolated children and young people to keep active.
The Active Partnership for Northumberland and Tyne & Wear have teamed up with the local authorities of Northumberland, Gateshead, Newcastle, North Tyneside, South Tyneside and Sunderland to deliver physical activity packs containing a variety of items for creating indoor and outdoor games and activities to those families which are most in need of extra support.
Lee Sprudd, strategic director for the Active Partnership said,
“With more families restricted to their homes, it is easy for activity levels to fall, and for stress levels to increase. We know that keeping active is a benefit to not only our physical health, but also our mental well-being. We hope therefore that these packs will give children who are most in need of support with the means to have fun, stay active and cope during the lockdown.”
The packs contain a variety of items such as bean bags, racquets, skipping rope and soft balls, ideal for creating indoor and outdoor games. Funding for these has been provided by Sport England and the National Lottery.
Lee Sprudd added,
“Our thanks also go to the Eagles Community Foundation for providing access to their arena to allow the packs to be put together whilst observing social distancing guidelines, and also to each local authority for distributing these to families they know are most in need.”
Sam Blake, chief executive officer of the Eagles Community Foundation said,
“The Eagles family have been honoured to work in partnership with Tyne & Wear Sport and Northumberland Sport in providing resources to keep our young people active during the lockdown. Not all young people have access to resources, so it has been our pleasure to donate use of the Eagles Community Arena to help with the delivery and distribution to key young people across our six local authorities. I hope the packs will enable each of the 2,400 young people to stay both physically and mentally active during this time and serve as a reminder that we are supporting and thinking of you during this lockdown. A big thank you must go to our Eagles volunteers for their support in making this possible, you are an inspiration to all of us."
For more information please contact
Xerxes Setna
Strategic Lead – Research, Insight & Communications
3rd Floor, Parsons House, Washington, NE37 1EZ
0191 4972322
07791 933509
