£287k legacy investment to deliver more sport for people with learning disabilities in Birmingham.

Disabled people in Birmingham will have more opportunities to get involved in sport after Midland Mencap received £287,216 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Inclusive Sport fund.

Across the country 44 projects will benefit from £10.2 million of National Lottery investment from the fund. Midland Mencap’s Sport4U project will use its funding to provide the opportunity for people with a learning disability to participate in regular training sessions and competition in cricket, football, tennis and netball, as well as number of other sports.

Midland Mencap CEO Dave Rogers said: “I believe this will be a great opportunity for people with Learning Disabilities in Birmingham.  Everyone will have the opportunity to be involved, discover sports, and become part of a team. It will also support people achieve personal goals as well as improve lifestyle.”

He continued “Many people with learning disability will have never had the chance to play sport, the Sports England inclusive sports fund will help us to change that. It is a really exciting project for the organisation.”

Welcoming the news, Britain’s greatest Paralympian, Baroness Tanni Grey-Thompson said: “This funding will go a long way to helping those inspired by the outstanding performances of our Paralympians this summer to get out and try sport for themselves. It’s fantastic to see such a wide range of organisations benefiting – all of them focused on helping more disabled people to discover how much sport has to
offer.”

Responding to the high quality of bids, Sport England has increased the funding available through this Olympic and Paralympic legacy programme from £8 million to over £10 million. The Inclusive Sport fund
will help tackle the opportunity gap that sees one in six disabled adults playing sport regularly, compared to one in three non-disabled adults[i].

Sport England Chief Executive, Jennie Price, said: “We have one simple aim with this investment: to make sport a viable choice for disabled people, young or not, talented or not. It is a tribute to the organisations who bid for funding that we had so many high quality proposals we were able to increase the lottery funding available from £8 million to over £10 million.”

Inclusive Sport is part of Sport England’s Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the inspiration and magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities all over the country.  Charles Reed, the Chair of English Federation of Disability Sport (EFDS), said: “The number of applications and the increase in the fund made available highlights how many organisations have been inspired to increase inclusive sports participation at every level. It is fantastic to see such a wide range of successful projects, which will indeed make a wider impact on local and national provision for disabled people. We look forward to working with the project leaders to share better practices, promote the opportunities and ensure disabled people can be active for life”.