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Ashley Hackett Chief Executive Officer of Blackpool FC Community Trust, reflects on an unprecedented year.

“As we see a very exciting end to the season we have taken the time to reflect on the impact we have had on our community this past year.

As a collective, Blackpool FC and Blackpool FC Community Trust pride ourselves in saying we are the town’s club and that we have been here through the most difficult of years to support our community.

We delivered an amazing Christmas campaign in December, to make sure no young person in Blackpool was without a gift on Christmas morning. Whilst the money raised was absolutely unbelievable, the most incredible part was developing a campaign that genuinely brought the club, players, Community Trust, fans and local people together, with one goal. It was truly heart-warming and still raises goosebumps when thought about.

The difficulty this year has been in finding ways to continue to deliver our community provision through the lockdowns. We have managed to support through face to face delivery in local schools, phone calls and door step visits with our most isolated residents, by delivering food parcels to those most in need and by developing a host of virtual and digital platforms to stay in contact with as many of our participants as possible.

We have continued to deliver many of our most impactful programmes, like Fit2Go, Unstoppable and our Blackpool FC Sports College courses, whilst introducing some very exciting new programmes targeted at different audiences.

One of these is our new High School Hubs programme, which places members of our team in every secondary school in Blackpool, for at least two days every week, to support with pupils resilience and mental health. Another is our Pool Together programme, providing the most socially isolated individuals in our community with support that they may have never been able to access in the past.

We launched our ADDER project to provide adults suffering from drug and alcohol addictions with a more positive path and to use sport, physical activity and volunteering to help change their mindset.

We have also been very proud to take on coordination of the local HAF project for the whole of Blackpool, which provides local children, that are on free school meals, with a hot meal and fun activities to take part in during school holidays.

All of the above are a very small number of examples of the great work the team deliver and despite living and working through Covid-19 restrictions and national and local lockdowns we were still able to support more than 18,000 individual local people in the town, deliver more than 8000 sessions through the year and have over 500,000 engagements across our programmes.

The year also saw us able to form some fantastic links with our inspiring Head Coach, Neil Critchley and his first team squad, who have been amazing in linking into our programmes and supporting local people. This has included attending many of our sessions, presenting to our Sports College students and making phone calls to local people. This resulted in awarding our club captain Chris Maxwell with the PFA Community Player of the Year. Chris has taken a leading role in getting the lads involved and has engaged more than anyone else, attending our Team Talk Mental Health sessions whenever possible.

This has truly been a season like no other, with challenges no one has ever seen before, but with the support of the club, fans and our local community we are very proud to be able to continue to support so many people.”

After leaving the Armed Forces Simon Martin faced significant barriers to finding employment which were made worse by the ongoing pandemic. However thanks to Swansea City Community Trust’s ‘Sign Up to Success’ employability programme he has a new career in the construction industry.

Simon enrolled onto the Swans employability program during the Autumn of 2020 as the Covid 19 pandemic eased slightly, The community Trust’s employability Tutor and Health and Wellbeing officer worked alongside Simon to initially identify goals and develop an action plan to achieve them within the project. Supported by the Trust’s team, Simon worked through the action plan, overcame personal barriers, increased his confidence and his aspiration levels. Through the course Simon also developed skills and knowledge for the construction industry whilst also successfully completing construction qualifications, obtaining a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card.

Supported by the Trust’s team, Simon developed and worked through an action plan, overcame personal barriers, increased his confidence and his aspiration levels.�� Through the course Simon also developed skills and knowledge for the construction industry whilst also successfully completing construction qualifications, obtaining a Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) card.

The programme provided Simon with the skills & knowledge to be successful at interview and secure employment with Tai Tarian housing association.

Joseph Kenington Team Leader the Tai Tarian team said “He’s helping spread his knowledge to other members of the team. There’s been a big change, where instead of doing everything himself, he’s helping the other guys to learn and adapt as well. His confidence has certainly grown as well.

The programme has given Simon the opportunity to develop his career whilst providing a platform to share is knowledge and skills that he has built throughout his career.

Simon said “The Trust supported us with a CSCS card and have been in contact throughout. It’s benefitted me having my CSCS card and getting involved with Tai Tarian. Hopefully, it’s a good step in the long run towards full-time employment – whether it’s through engaging with Tai Tarian or other contractors further down the line. Hopefully, the future is bright.” Simon Martin.

The Trust continued to work with Tai Tarian as part of ‘in work support’ and all participants, in particular Simon, are progressing well within their roles.

Kris Jordan, Swansea City Community Trust’s Director of Business Development. said “Given the significant economic challenges the pandemic has presented to individuals, businesses and communities, we were very pleased to support Simon on his journey back to employment.�� Through raising confidence, aspirations coupled with providing real-life essential work-based qualifications we hope our programme provided Simon with the necessary tools to succeed in the construction industry”

Yesterday, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Thérèse Coffey met young people kicking off their careers at Walsall Football Club, thanks to the Government’s flagship Kickstart scheme.

As one of 65 �������� Football Clubs providing Kickstart opportunities, Walsall Football Club,have�� given seven young jobseekers their first taste of employment, providing valuable on-the-job experience in roles such as Assistant Sports Coach and Marketing and Media. The Club will have places available for 13 more young people by the end of the year.

As part of the Government’s Plan for Jobs, the scheme already has over 20,000 young people in its starting line-up, in posts across the country from engineering to digital business. These new, subsidised jobs will boost the career chances of young people at risk of long-term unemployment – helping them get a vital first foot on the jobs ladder, and gain skills for the future.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Thérèse Coffey, said:

“With more than 400 young people starting a Kickstart job every day over the last four weeks, more vacancies like the ones here at Walsall Football Club are becoming available all the time. Kickstart is playing a vital role in helping scoring better opportunities for the next generation of workers.

“Credit to Walsall Football Club and the �������� Trust for stepping up and��giving young people an opportunity to kick off their careers and reach their goals. I encourage more employers to join Kickstart and become part of this national team effort to build back better.”

Photo by Paul Greenwood/BPI/Shutterstock��

At Banks Stadium, Thérèse Coffey met Jenson Jones, 20 years old, now working as a community coach for the club. Kickstart has given him the opportunity to get real-life coaching experience.

Jenson said:

��“I’m really enjoying my new role and working alongside enthusiastic coaches that have a genuine love for the game. Trying to secure a job during the pandemic was extremely challenging but Kickstart has given me a chance. I’m thrilled to have this opportunity while developing new skills and gaining valuable experience with the club.”

The �������� Trust is acting as a gateway organisation, bringing together a network of over 65 Clubs, community organisations and other partners to deliver more than 1,300 jobs for young people around the country.

Mike Evans, CEO of the �������� Trust said:

“This impact of COVID-19 on our young people is clearly very significant and we are delighted to be able to offer opportunities to over 1,000 young people in our communities through the Kickstart programme. A key part of our strategy at the �������� Trust is to raise aspirations and realise the potential within our communities and a scheme like Kickstart enables us to have a significant impact on the young people who need our support most right now.”