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Community Games – Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th July 2014
Inspired by the London 2012 Olympic Games, the Community Games was a two‑day event organised by FoSJP with help from the Southampton City District Scouts to bring the local community together to take part in sporting and cultural activities at St.James’ Park.
We were delighted to host two special guests – the event was officially opened on Saturday by Olympic silver medallist diver Peter Waterfield, and was officially closed on Sunday by Great Britain Wheelchair Rugby player and London 2012 Paralympic athlete Aaron Phipps – both local heroes from Southampton!
The many sports and activities on offer included arts and crafts, athletics, badminton, basketball, boccia, boxing, a climbing wall, cycling ramps & agility, dodgeball, face painting, fencing, football challenges, golf, handball, henna tattoos, giant Jenga, martial arts, a maze, a minithon, rugby skills, old school games, a skipping workshop, a street art workshop, volleyball and yoga – something for everyone!
Visitors were entertained by a blues/folk band, a brass band, cheerleaders, a choir, a mad scientist, and a saxophone group, and were kept refreshed by the ParkLife Café, food stalls from different countries, and of course a Tea Tent!
Many stalls were present including the Bike Doctor, British Sign Language, the Rose Road Association, and a lucky dip. A raffle, with many prizes generously donated by local organisations, and a tombola together raised almost £1300 to go towards funding future community activities in and around the Park.
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Aaron also gave out awards to a special local family who have given lots of their time voluntarily to projects running in St.James’ Park: Anita, Conor and Jordan. Conor was awarded a Vinspired Certificate, a nationally recognised accreditation, for over 100 hours of voluntary work with the Coxford & District Youth Project.
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Aaron is an inspirational motivational speaker, and has addressed many organisations including local schools. You can find out more about him on his website aaronphipps.com.
All the other young people aged between 14 and 25 who volunteered for the Community Games or for projects running in St.James’ Park are encouraged to apply to Vinspired. Contact our Community Volunteer Coordinator, Marina Murphy, via marina.murphy@fosjp.org.uk or on 023 8077 9763, or visit the Vinspired website, to find out more.
More than 60 volunteers helped to plan the event, designed posters, supported the team, and turned up on the two days to make it such a successful event, giving over 555 hours of their own time. We’ve had a lot of positive feedback about the event – people have particularly pointed out how friendly and helpful the volunteers were over the weekend. A huge “Thank You” goes to all the volunteers for their efforts!
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Who says community spirit no longer exists?
With some time, funding and enthusiasm it is amazing what can be achieved!
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Thank You!
The following sports clubs and organisations took part or donated their time or raffle prizes to the Community Games event:[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]
- Art Asia
- Barnes Boxing Academy
- Bliss Nail & Body
- Booze Shack
- Caribbean Food
- Chicago Blues Band
- Collingwood Medical Services
- COMBI-NATION
- Coxford Tigers Rugby League
- Churches for Polish
- Churches Together in Shirley & District
- Coxford & District Youth Project (Football)
- Crêperie Guadeloupe
- David Lloyd
- Dizzyfeet Dancing
- Do Science
- Hampshire Police
- Holt & Haskell
- Jip Cr2em (Street Art)
- Kings of Leon
- Love Cake
- Mini Maestros
- Narumon’s Thai Café
- The Performers Studio
- Play Shack
- Poppy’s Cafe
- Roosters Piri Piri
- Rose Road Association
- Studio Red Fitness
- Sainsbury’s Shirley
- Sea City Museum
- Shirley Garage Services
- Southampton City District Scouts
- Southampton Solent University
- Southampton Ukulele Jam
- Spirit of Choi Kwang Do(Martial Arts)
- Sustrans
- Team Spirit
- Wave 105
- Yoga
- Zumba by Berni
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And many thanks to all of you who came along to have fun – we hope you enjoyed yourself, and feel inspired to take up one of the many activities that you tried at the Community Games!
If you attended our Community Games event, please click here and take 5 minutes to tell us what you thought about it – you could win £100 of High Street vouchers! Alternatively, let Marina know via marina.murphy@fosjp.org.uk or on 023 8077 9763.