Former Great Britain captain Paul Sculthorpe will be helping Keighley Cougars launch two important new community initiatives on Monday, April 27.
‘Scully’ will be the guest of honour when the Cougars, together with two major community partners, Incommunities and Bradford Metropolitan District Council, announce the start of key initiatives in Keighley and district for 2009.
Since his retirement through injury Sculthorpe has been working with St Helens on their community programmes and is the recognised ambassador the Co-operative Championship.
Both initiatives will be running under the club’s ‘Street Academy’ banner and will use an introduction to playing Rugby League as an aid to building bridges with different communities.
One initiative, which is being run in conjunction with Bradford Metropolitan District Council, is designed to appeal to Keighley’s large Asian community and will be run as part of the Building Capacity through Cohesion in the Community programme.
The other ‘street skills’ initiative will be delivered to youngsters on estates in Keighley, Bingley, Denholme and Ilkley in partnership with Incommunities, the area’s biggest provider of social housing. It is being backed by the housing group’s trust loyalty card scheme which offers its tenants great savings and discounts in shops and local attractions.
Helen Carter, Keighley Cougars’ General Manager, said: “Both initiatives are being delivered by the Cougars Community Foundation and are key activities this year.
“We are delighted to be working both with Bradford Council and Incommunities because we believe that they share the same set of values as the Cougars of tackling obesity, exposing as many young people as possible to the benefits of sport, encouraging good citizenship and involving everybody to build resilience and strengthen community cohesion.
“Both partnerships are important to Keighley Cougars as they provide us with the crucial links to the community groups we want to work alongside.”
Zabair Rasul, Director of Incommunities – aire-wharfe office said: “We are really looking forward to teaming up with the Keighley Cougars to promote the Rugby League experience to young people in our communities.
“Building closer links with young people is a key goal for Incommunities - aire-wharfe. This programme will help encourage young people to develop their rugby skills, promote their fitness and health and give everyone a sporting chance.
“Our partnership with the Cougars follows on from the success of consultation events and the Dreamscheme fun day aimed at bringing young people together and improving life in their community.”
Councillor Kris Hopkins, Leader of Bradford Metropolitan District Council, said: “This is a great project that we can really be proud of that demonstrates the commitment from Keighley Cougars.
“Sport is a great way to engage with young people and get across important messages about their community. We are learning from people across the District, full of commitment and passion - particularly young people. They have fresh ideas about how sports, art and culture can be a way of celebrating diversity, bringing people together and helping young people build resilience to hateful messages”.
“This scheme manages to reach out to a number of young people from different backgrounds and not only gives valuable community benefits but also encourages them to be active and have fun.”
The Street Academy events, run in partnership with Incommunities, take place between 4pm and 5pm at:-
Brackenbank Community Centre 8 May, 26 May, 9 June
Guard HouseSchool 11 May, 2 June, 10 June
Parkwood Rise flats 12 May, 3 June, 11 June
Ilkley, Little Lane 18 May, 4 June, 12 June
Bingley Church Street 19 May, 5 June, 15 June
Denholme Park 20 May, 8 June, 16 June
Festival at Cougar Park 27 June (11am to 3pm)
The Street Academy events run in partnership with Bradford Metropolitan District Council take place between 4pm and 5pm at:-
Victoria Park, Keighley 6 May until 21 May
Lund Park, Keighley 7 May until 25 May
Devonshire Park, Keighley 14 May until 27 May
Festival at Cougar Park 30 May (11.00am until 3.00pm) |
