Established in 2012 as a legacy of the London Olympic and Paralympic Games, Wythenshawe Games is a large community sports festival, which takes place every year in one of Manchester’s most disadvantaged communities. The Games centre around a drop-in sports festival in Wythenshawe Park, one of Manchester’s most beautiful community parks and host to some great community sports facilities - an athletics track, tennis courts, bowling greens, football pitches, a community farm and an historic Hall.
The aims of Wythenshawe Games are:
• To increase participation in sport and physical activity by Wythenshawe residents
• To improve pathways to sport and physical activity in the community
• To build the capacity of community sports delivery in Wythenshawe
• To showcase Wythenshawe’s high quality community sports facilities and promote Wythenshawe as a high quality location for community sport
Activities
The Games sees the installation of a temporary Wythenshawe Games Village in the centre of the park during 26 July – 1 August, which is programmed with drop-in sports activity every day for seven days.
A Health Zone also offers brief interventions including mental health, cancer awareness, smoking cessation, and oral health.
During the seven day festival a range of themed activities takes place, such as a Sport for All day, an over 50s day, and a Girls and Women’s Day. The Games Village also includes a designated under 5s zone, open every day from 11am – 2pm and a youth programme from 4pm to 7pm, the Wythenshawe Games Teen Takeover.
Involvement
Partners are being sought to get involved in the Wythenshawe Games 2014. In particular:
• Sports Clubs/NGBS to offer drop-in sports sessions in Wythenshawe Park
• Groups with a sports, health, social welfare or community focus to take one of the gazebos in our Games Village for a day
• Sponsors to help fund key aspects of the Games. Sponsorship packages begin at £200 and can be tailored to the needs of the sponsor.
If you would like to get involved in Wythenshawe Games 2014, contact:
Lou Englefield (Games Director) at: [email protected]
Alison Warwood (Sport For All Day Lead) at: [email protected]
Claire Harrop (Girls and Women’s Day Lead) at: [email protected]
Jen Watts (Marketing and Promotion) at: [email protected]