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There is no surprise that Bristol Rovers Community Trust was handed the title ‘Bristol Life Award Winner’ back in 2018, due to its fantastic work in the community. Since that award, they have gone from strength to strength over the years, and have once again made it their duty to go that extra mile.

No-one could have predicted the effect that the coronavirus would have had on the world in the first place, but when times are hard everyone pulls together and Chief Executive of the Bristol Rovers Community Trust, Adam Tutton, has one simple message: ‘this is more than football’.  

“I am a born and bred Bristolian; this means a lot and it is in instances like this where people need to step up and be counted,” he said. 

“I am lucky enough to work with a lot of people who are like that, and what I think this is showing is that Community Trusts are more than just football. These are the times where Community Trusts need to stand up and be counted.  

“In terms of the stuff ourselves and the club are doing, we have suggested that we have a look at season ticket holders that are 70 and above, as well as our extra-time club that is open to over 60s and what we are doing for all of those, we are making up food parcels which will have essentials in, and everyone will get a Rovers scarf as well, which will hopefully give them a bit of a smile.  

“The Community Trust will deliver those to the people’s front doors in the coming weeks; I am a community man at heart, and this means more to me than the football does if I am being honest. One of the schools we have been helping out is about 500 meters away from Bristol City’s Ashton Gate, so it makes absolutely no difference.”  

As well as setting out an action plan for the older supporters of the football club, the Community Trust has also been helping the younger generation of its community, bagging up dinners for those who are eligible for free ones when they are at school, and with that they have also been delivering resources that will help the children while they are being home-schooled.  

“We have had a lot of schools contact us to help them distribute free school meals; the first school we went to had 170 students who had free school meals. The school had all of this food and they needed to get it out, so we helped bag them up and take them out to the students,” he added.  

“We’ve been doing a lot of delivering resources such as pens, pencils, drawing papers; literally anything that we could fit into the back of the minibus. It’s like a school away from school, really, so that has been one of the main focuses for us at the moment.”  

Conversations are still ongoing between the Trust and Bristol City Council, who Adam contacted towards the start of last week to offer out their services, and he is keen to help in whatever way he can to those organisations that need it.  

“We have quite close links with the Bristol City Council in terms of the Community Trust, so I contacted them and basically offered our services out to them in any capacity that was needed, really. I was trying to put us at the forefront of a city-wide approach to what is going on,” he said.  

“From that, we got a phone call from the Director of People Services from the Council and they linked us up with a few charities in the first instance. We went heavy on social media saying that we were out to help, on the back of that. 

 “So we are still waiting on that call from the local authorities as well as the NHS who have approached us also. I said to them that we will literally help them with anything, whether it is giving nurses a lift to and from the hospital; literally anything that we can do, we will.” 

Steve Hammond, father of Richard, has spoken of the amazing opportunities his son has explored through Shrewsbury Town in the Community’s ShrewsAbility.

Through the Every Player Counts programme funded by Wembley National Stadium Trust and �������� Trust, the ShrewsAbility Down’s syndrome football scheme creates a multi-tier learning environment that improves the participants’ overall physical, social and emotional health.

Richard Hammond has been a regular ShrewsAbility member since the sessions first launched in 2016.

 “Before taking part, Richard struggled to trap or strike a ball properly. It’s amazing to see the difference and how much he has developed, he’s so comfortable at doing these things now and has built his intelligence of the game.

“I feel so happy and grateful to see my son enjoy playing football just like I did when I was younger.

“Not only has he enhanced his football skills, he’s also formed new friendships and his self-esteem has improved.

“These sessions make you look at what everyone is able to do and not what they can’t – you see people’s abilities, not their disability.”

Apart from football, Richard is also an avid gymnast and swimmer and in 2011 he represented Team GB at the Special Olympics in Athens, winning two Silver Medals and one Bronze Medal in artistic gymnastics.

Since ShrewsAbility launched, the session has had an aggregate attendance of 464 participants across all disability sessions.

95% of participants have stated that there has been an improvement in their mental well being since attending the sessions.

The annual �������� Day of Action takes place on Tuesday, as all �������� Clubs come together on one day to demonstrate the impact football can have in positively changing people’s lives. Read more

�������� Clubs will come together on Tuesday 10 March to highlight the positive impact football has in changing people’s lives and the work taking place to tackle some of society’s biggest issues.

Across the Sky Bet Championship, League One and League Two, events will be held by Clubs on �������� Day of Action to showcase the very best programmes and activity they deliver in a number of important areas, including diversity and inclusion, education, and health and wellbeing.

The impact of the work carried out by �������� Clubs and Club Community Organisations (CCOs) is unparalleled, with more than half a million hours of group activity delivered and over 40 million hours of participation each season.

During the 2018/19 season, almost 900,000 people took part in a wide range of activities across key areas, with Clubs and CCOs receiving over £60 million of direct project funding.

The �������� Day of Action aims to unite Clubs and CCOs on one day to celebrate and highlight the impact they have in their communities, bringing together the most unique projects and programmes being run across England and Wales.

Managers and players from the ��������’s Clubs will be attending events up and down the country on Tuesday to pay special visits to see participants in action and to provide their support to various projects.

For example:

• In the Sky Bet Championship, Cardiff City will host participants of their Bluebirds Ability programme at their first team training session. Bluebirds ability sessions support children and young people with a disability through football activities.
• QPR’s Angel Rangel will join a food delivery to local hostels and homeless shelters with Club partner City Harvest, who use surplus food from various London locations and provide for those in need.
• To celebrate the success of the �������� Trust’s Fit Fans programme, Doncaster Rovers, Sheffield Wednesday, Rotherham United and Bradford City will all come together at the Keepmoat Stadium to host a football festival with over 40 participants.
• In Sky Bet League One, Bristol Rovers will showcase their partnership with St Peters Hospice Charity, which offers the Club the ability to engage with patients suffering with various forms of cancer.
• In Sky Bet League Two, Port Vale are hosting a full day of activities, showcasing their impact on people in their community including breakfast clubs, careers events, mental health groups and walking football.

Five �������� fixtures will also take place on the evening of the �������� Day of Action, with Clubs further supporting the day with warm-up t-shirts and in-stadium assets.

These are just a few examples of some of the fantastic work due to take place during the ��������’s Day of Action by �������� Club Community Organisations – the largest network of sporting charities in the UK.

�������� Chairman, Rick Parry, said: “Our Clubs have always had a unique position in the heart of their respective towns and cities and it is important that we celebrate the work they carry out, which improves lives and tackles some of society’s biggest issues on a daily basis. 

“The recent study commissioned by the �������� shows that Clubs’ work in their communities is happening on a huge scale and starts to place a real value on this work, providing further insight into the impact of programmes provided.

“The hours committed by staff and volunteers at Clubs and CCOs, as well as the support from players and managers, demonstrates a remarkable commitment to improving lives up and down the country.”

See the results of the Measuring the Impact of Clubs the Community�����ٳܻ����.