Accrington Stanley's award winning charity Stanley Trust is celebrating its sixth birthday this week.
In this time, the charity has raised over £1.5million and with this has been able to develop and deliver a varied repertoire of projects and programmes, successfully engaging a staggering 10,000 people in the last 12 months across the areas of Hyndburn, the Ribble Valley and Rossendale.
The Trust has four key themes - sport participation, health, social inclusion and education - and the charity has enjoyed unprecedented growth in all areas.
In June 2016 the charity won the Hyndburn Community Business of the Year Award which was a fantastic achievement.
The Trust can boast a number of achievements. It has:
- Increased participation in sport and exercise in Hyndburn by providing a range of sporting opportunities.
- promoted wellbeing and healthy lifestyles within local communities.
- provided activities that engage hundreds of disabled young people each year.
- ran a hugely successful ‘Stanley Soccer League' with more than 400 adult participants playing seven-a-side football every week.
- given free sports coaching sessions to disadvantaged young people who have little access to such provision.
- facilitated Walking Football and socialising activities for over 50s t`y k to increase exercise and reduce social isolation.
- developed and empowered leaders, coaches and volunteers.
- engaged and inspired young people, raising and celebrating educational achievement.
- Educated more than 40 full time students studying BTEC qualifications and have progressed over 30 former students onto university.
- affiliations with over 30 local primary schools and a further 18 secondary schools.
In addition to this, Accrington Stanley Community Trust now employs 10 full-time individuals from the local area, with a further eight part-time staff members.
Martin Fearon, Community Trust Manager, siad: “It has been a great journey over the past six years and we continue to go from strength to strength. We are now an award winning charity and it shows that we are making a positive impact in our community and we want to build on this over the next 12 months.
“We have some exciting plans next year which include a range of new sport and education provision so keep your eyes peeled for these to announced soon. We have also secured funding from the Premier League, National Lottery and Sport England which will be invested into new projects.
“We play a crucial role for Accrington Stanley by increasing the awareness in the local area and providing opportunities for many people. We hope to see many of our participants at the Wham Stadium this season to support the team and hopefully go one better than last season and gain promotion.”
To find out more about the charity's work, visit www.stanleytrust.co.uk