As the hours close in on 2021, we want to take the time to reflect on some of the positive changes we have made this year.
Last December we closed 2020 with the launch of our Women’s Academy, levelling the playing field for girls across the county, giving them a genuine pathway into the sport. This year saw the Academy open its doors for the first time, welcoming 14 talented girls into the programme. The cohort has gone from strength to strength, putting in some excellent performances on and off the pitch as we showed the world that the talent in Lincolnshire was truly off the charts.
To support this we launched the Girls Academy early on in the year, finalising that pathway for girls. This programme gives Lincolnshire girls from 10 upwards the opportunity to play football at an elite level. Our Girls have had fixtures against Westham and Norwich delivering a performance in a Lincoln Shirt they can be proud of.
We have continued our work to get more girls into sport with our ‘Inspiring Girls’ Campaign. Using the anniversary of the women’s football ban our team have visited 508 girls to deliver an inspiring talk about the history of women’s football and give them a taster of the game to encourage more girls to take up the sport.
Off the pitch, our Healthier Communities team launched two fantastic new initiatives to support our local community. Team Talk launched in March, a programme aimed to tackle the statistics that show poor male mental health across the county. Our programme consists of a peer to peer support group hosted by Andy’s Man Club and a male-only football session to give men the opportunity to improve their mental health through sport and build connections with other like-minded men. Thanks to funding from Shine Lincolnshire, Lincolnshire County Council and NHS CCG we are proud to have supported 119 men with their mental health so far.
The team also launched our cancer care programme ‘fighting fit’ which aims to support people recovering from cancer build back their fitness. This has been a fantastic programme to be a part of, as the programme can literally change someone’s life.
Feedback from a recent participant describes the impact it has had on her life.
“Will built up my confidence to such a level that I am now, once again visiting and enjoying the gym on a regular basis, I shall be forever grateful to Will and the Lincoln City Foundation and would seriously encourage anyone who is eligible, to sign up to the Foundations work. It certainly helped with both mind and body, for which I shall be forever grateful.”
We cannot talk about 2021 without mentioning one of the biggest highlights of our year, which was the opening of our brand new 3G facility. The 3G welcomed its first participants in April but was officially opened in November, with the ceremony being postponed due to the pandemic. Since its unofficial opening in April, our facility has hosted 5 holiday clubs, 100’s of football participants, tournaments, team talk football, local sports teams and even a session of laughing yoga!
Our NCS programme has gone from strength to strength with 400 16 – 18-year-olds taking part in a Lincoln City Foundation Programme, with £5,000 raised for local charities as part of their social action projects. We have also introduced a Traineeship programme which saw 6 participants receive vital support to help them gain the experience and skills required to find work.
We truly embraced our inclusivity values this year, with the launch of our new website, which came equipped with a translation function to help local residents that may struggle with English access our programmes. None more relevant than our conversation club, which helps local residents learn English so they can find work, further education or simply feel part of their community. This year, thanks to the pandemic push to offer both online and face to face classes, we engaged 104 adults with our conversation club.
Finally, like most charities, our fundraising has taken a huge hit as a result of the pandemic. However, we were thrilled by the fundraising effort from supporters during our A Walk in the Park campaign this May. £4,019.50 was raised in support of our Team Talk programme, with 16 people fundraising while walking from park to park across Lincolnshire. Keep your eye out for more fundraising challenges next year, where you can make a real difference in Lincolnshire.
You can read more about the impact from our work, look at our 2020/21 impact report
Before the year draws to a close, I personally, on behalf of our team, want to thank you for your support this year, on what continues to be a challenging time globally. From sharing a post on social media, to personally advocating our services. From coming to try out our services, to getting stuck in and raising money to help them continue. Each one of you reading this today have played a part in our 2021 story, we hope you join us next year in making an even bigger impact in Lincolnshire.
Martin Hickerton
CEO, Lincoln City Foundation