Astley & Tyldesley help take national scheme to 1000 club landmark. |
|
|
|
The achievement of a North West cycling club has helped Sport England reach a national landmark. Astley and Tyldesley Miners’ Welfare Cycle Speedway Club has been awarded Clubmark accreditation for being a well run club and it has taken the total number of sports clubs to achieve the award to 1000. The club now has 45 members and in the past year has seen one of its members become the first ever female to win an outdoor British Individual title, as well as signing the current European Senior and Junior Individual Champions. Astley and Tyldesley has been recognised as having reached high national standards of good management, coaching, equal opportunities and safety. The Sport England’s Clubmark scheme has now achieved 1000 fully accredited clubs in 20 different sports. It means that the scheme is rapidly becoming the established quality standard for all sports clubs in the country. Sport England’s Chief Executive Roger Draper said: “Congratulations to Astley and Tyldesley on their Clubmark. award. It is not easy to reach the standards demanded by scheme so Astley and Tyldesley should be very proud of all they have achieved. “The Clubmark scheme is really gaining momentum. It is good that we have 1000 accredited clubs but perhaps even more encouraging is that over a thousand more clubs have applied to join.” Mike Hack, club coach, received their award from cycling’s Olympic track sprinter Barney Storey and Sport England’s North West Development Manager, Clint Godfrey at The Gin Pit, Astley as part of a series of events across the country to mark the 1000 club landmark. Congratulating the club, Barney said, “Quality clubs for young people are the cornerstone of cycling. With a strong network of clubs that offer the chance for children to experience the sport in a friendly and effective environment, we maximise the chances of building on our success stories. Through British Cycling’s Go-Ride and Talent Team programmes, the mechanism is in place to provide more opportunities for young people to experience the fun and challenge of cycling, and to find and develop the champions of the future. Go-Ride Clubmark Accreditation is a hugely important part of the future development of cycling for young people. Having had the pleasure of seeing Astley and Tyldesley Cycle Speedway Club in action at one of their training sessions, I can say that their excellent work typifies how well a Clubmark Accredited club can function”. Barney Storey, Great Britain Paralympic Squad member and World record holder, representative at the 2004 Paralympic Games in Athens. Mike Hack, Go-Ride Coach for Astley and Tyldesley said, "We are delighted to receive this prestigious accreditation, as this confirms that Sport England and British Cycling consider us to have met their criteria for being a quality club. We see this accreditation as being an important tool in increasing recruitment, as parents, schools and other youth organisations can be confident in the knowledge that youngsters taking part in our club's activities will be properly cared for. We have also learned a great deal about good practice from going through the accreditation process, and have incorporated several of Sport England and British Cycling's good practice models into our own activities. I would strongly recommend that other clubs to follow suit and work hard to carry out the improvements necessary to acquire the Clubmark accreditation." |