Ten sports clubs and organisations across Derbyshire are to benefit from free training to help increase the number of disabled people volunteering across the county.

Run by Derbyshire Sport, the IMPACT volunteering project aims to create more sports volunteering opportunities for disabled people whilst increasing their confidence and skills.

The programme will help understand whether having more disabled volunteers supporting a club helps increase disability participation, a key target of Sport England who are funding this project.

A volunteer recruitment campaign is set to take place within ‘Inclusive Volunteer Month’ in June to encourage disabled people to volunteer as well as providing training opportunities for the clubs who the volunteers will be deployed to.

Within the month, Derbyshire Sport will work with local voluntary services and other partners to encourage disabled people to sign up to the project and start their journey as a sports volunteer.

Matthew Dalley, Derbyshire Para-Equestrian rider and has gained many benefits from his own volunteering experience at his riding club where he started helping in the yard and now runs the club’s social media and website.

When speaking about his volunteering journey, Matthew said: “I am committed to helping other disabled people benefit from an involvement in sport, both as a participant and volunteer.

“Through my own volunteering I aim to show that my disability isn’t a barrier to helping make a difference and I encourage others to take the opportunity to get involved with the IMPACT project so they can benefit like I have.”

Sport Development Officer for Derbyshire Sport, Rachael Dyer, said: “it is important to reflect the broad spectrum of people that we are aiming to recruit by providing a varied training programme.

“Clubs and their volunteers will have the opportunity to develop a range of skills and knowledge on how to effectively engage with disabled people who are getting involved in their club in a voluntary capacity.

“The IMPACT project will help Derbyshire clubs and volunteers better understand how to effectively engage with disabled people and to help raise their awareness of what makes an inclusive club”.

Four counties will be involved in the project across the East Midlands; Lincolnshire Sport, Northamptonshire Sport and Sport Nottinghamshire will all be working alongside Derbyshire to get more disabled people volunteering across the region.

The four counties are sharing a £59,200 investment into the region that was awarded by Sport England in late 2015.

For more information on the project please contact Rachael.dyer@derbyshire.gov.uk

As 2016 is a leap year, employers are set to benefit from an extra day of work from employees on Monday 29^th February at no extra cost. In light of this, businesses are being challenged to offer an extra day of holiday in exchange for employees making a donation to three local charities.

Part of the new #ChallengeDerbyshire campaign, run by Ashgate Hospicecare, Blythe House Hospice and Helen’s Trust, it is hoped this latest challenge will raise much needed funds to support patients with life-limiting illnesses across North Derbyshire.

Markovitz on Whittington Moor in Chesterfield is the first business to sign up to offer staff an extra day of holiday in return for them making a donation to the three charities. Chief Executive, Rob Turner said:-

“Our staff work hard every year so when #ChallengeDerbyshire asked us to offer them a days holiday in exchange for a donation, I couldn’t say no. Our staff are paid monthly so we won’t be paying them any more in February with it being a leap year so it doesn’t actually cost us anything.

“We have asked staff to donate 50% of a day’s salary and they can take their extra day’s holiday at any time throughout the year. We hope this will raise a lot of money for these three local charities who really need our support.”

One employee, Gemma Wray, was quick to take part. She said: “When I heard from my manager that Markovitz were offering this I thought ‘What an absolutely brilliant idea!’

“The extra day will benefit me and three truly amazing charities. Company employees pay half of what they would normally earn in a day to Challenge Derbyshire and receive an extra days holiday from the company in return. The company get their extra day of trading and everyone’s a winner, especially the charities!

“From personal experience I know Blythe House, one of the three charities that make up Challenge Derbyshire, offer amazing and well needed support to not only the people affected by a terminal illness but their family members too. I don’t know where we would be without them!”

Ashgate Hospicecare, Blythe House Hospice and Helen’s Trust have collaboratively met the needs of local patients through their variety of services for many years. Mary Atkinson, who was diagnosed with Corticobasal Syndrome 5 years ago, is just one of the many patients that receive care and support from all three charities. Her husband and full time carer, Bob, shares his story on the help they’ve both received from the local charities.

Bob says, “For a while I felt like everything was closing in on me. I was finding it really difficult to cope and there were concerns about my health in terms of depression. But the support I received from all three charities really helped me deal with everything – they’ve really helped both of us. It’s much better that I can look after Mary in our own home because that’s what we would both prefer, her here with me. I wouldn’t have been able to look after Mary without the support of these organisations. Because of them, we can continue living our normal lives.”

Ashgate Hospicecare, Blythe House Hopsice and Helen’s Trust joined together last December to form #ChallengeDerbyshire. Supporters can also join in by choosing their own challenge by videoing themselves pledging to complete a challenge to raise money for three local charities and using the hashtag #ChallengeDerbyshire when posting to Facebook and Twitter.

If you are an employer and would like to get involved in the leap year challenge please email challengederbyshire@gmail.com or visit www.challengederbyshire.org.uk for more information.