New charity to form to support disabled athletes

Anewcharitytohelpdisabled people get involved in sport in the city is being created.

The idea for the charity, called Inspire Peterborough, came from the success of the London 2012 Paralympics, and will aim to work with disabledpeopleacrossPeterborough.

Anupdateontheprogress of the charity was heard at Peterborough City Council’s Creating Opportunities and Tackling Inequality Scrutiny Committee.

Julie Rivett, programme leader for Inspire Peterborough, said: “We want to use the power of the games to inspire Peterborough.

“The idea is to provide greater access to sport for disabled people.

“Therehasbeenadisability sports forumsetup, andwe are workingwithsportsclubs andvenuesto raise participation.

“We also want to increase the opportunities for people, bothablebodiedanddisabled, to get involved in sports volunteering.

“We are working with schools to get young people involved, as well as the armed forces, with people who may have been injured while on service.

“What really makes this different is the community aspect. It will be for everyone from people just getting involved in sport, to the elite athletes we have in Peterborough.”

Councillor Irene Walsh, who is involved in setting the charity up, said: “This is not modelled on anything else.

“We hope that it will be used as a pilot scheme wlsewhere in the country.

“There is a large Lottery fund which is available for legacy projects which we are applying for, and we have a lot of support from across the city.”