News & Information

The RELAYS project, which will engage young people and communities in the South West in the run up to the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic games, is now fully underway and making considerable progress. Earlier this month RELAYS was officially launched at the BBC West Sports Awards 2008 where the project sponsored the ‘Young Persons’ Contribution to Sport’ award.

David Baker Chair of HERDA-SW Strategy Board presented the award to Alex Holcombe for his work as Manager of Chew Valley Senior FC. The awards were televised and the video round-up along with photographs of the event can be viewed via the BBC Bristol website.

The evening was a great success and Leanne Dingle, RELAYS Project Director, said “One of the key aims of RELAYS is to involve young people in community work and volunteering. Sponsoring the Young Persons’ Contribution to Sport award seemed like a great way to promote this important aspect of the project and we hope RELAYS will inspire a whole generation of people to engage with sport and culture.”

Over the past month several RELAYS staff members have been appointed at partner organisations. These include Cultural Coordinators, Schools Events Coordinators and Business Fellows spread across eight universities in the South West, who will be running the RELAYS activities.

RELAYS anticipates a range of exciting festivals and events in the run up to Summer 2009 and beyond including, among others, the Evolution Rocks Festival run in partnership with the Lyme Regis Development Trust and the Bristol Festival of Sport and Culture.

There will also be a significant amount of educational-based activities in classrooms around the South West. Recently RELAYS has been working in partnership with Devon County Council to run an innovative new youth sports festival in the county next year. Planning for the festival is progressing well and promises to be a fantastic new sporting event for the South West. 2009 looks set to be an exciting and eventful year all round for the RELAYS project.