In 2021, we were proud to be successful in securing £200,000 of investment from Sport England’s Together Fund – designed to help support communities and organisations who were disproportionately affected by the Covid-19 pandemic.
Using our in-depth knowledge and expertise of the region, we distributed the funding to 43 community organisations across Northumberland and Tyne and Wear who really understand people in the target groups:
- people in lower socio-economic groups
- people with disabilities
- people with long-term health conditions
- people who are members of culturally diverse communities
Some of the organisations we worked with:
Feedback from surveyed participants:
92% agreed that a Together Fund project had helped them to do more physical activity than they would have done without the project.
89% agreed that taking part in a project increased their confidence to be more active.
Participants said taking part in physical activity helped them to manage their health, increase their level of physical activity and reduce their isolation.
“I suffer with depression and anxiety since being diagnosed with multiple conditions. I always felt different and judged. The group made me feel welcome and I can finally exercise where I feel comfortable”
Gateway Wheelers
Gateway Wheelers is a charity, based in Sunderland, that enables people with disabilities to take part in cycling.
It was established in 1996 by the father of a child with disabilities who was frustrated by the lack of facilities for his son. The charity runs cycling sessions three to four days a week, out of the Old Rectory in Houghton-le-Spring and offers a range of
adapted bikes to meet the varied needs of their participants.
We awarded the charity £10,000 from the Together Fund – this funded the delivery of 73 sessions, that had a total of 363 attendances from 99 individual participants.
The funding was important in strengthening the organisation’s financial sustainability, as existing funding had ended prior to the project, which potentially could have forced Gateshead Wheelers to cease operations.
61 of the 99 project participants were individuals that Gateway Wheelers had not worked with before. Part of this new intake was made up of children with disabilities, as the funding allowed Gateway Wheelers to develop their offer to children, a group that had previously been difficult to cater to due to the timings of sessions.
John’s story
‘John’ (not his real name) previously cycled around 100 miles a week on his bike.
A heart attack in April 2013 resulted in him having a hypoxic brain injury – as a result he is now partially sighted, unable to walk more than short distances, and requires 24/7 care. His sessions with Gateway Wheelers helped him get back to a hobby he loved.
John’s wife said: “It’s massively improved his mood, it’s been helping to keep his weight down, it helps to exercise him, to build up his muscle tone, keep his cardiac output as regular as can be and he absolutely loves it. Gateway Wheelers have helped him reconnect to a hobby that he was familiar with, something that he loved prior to his health issues.”