Event - Conference offers insight and inspiration

11:56am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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THE inaugural Cumbria Sport Partnership Conference is to be held on Thursday at Carlisle Racecourse.

The conference will provide an opportunity for key agencies involved in sports development to come together to assess the many challenges facing the sport and physical activity sector.

Delegates will gain an insight into the latest national thinking through two high profile keynote speakers: Andy Worthington, Chair of Sport England's Regional Sports Board and Steve Grainger, CEO of the Youth Sport Trust.

There will also be an opportunity to discuss issues facing Cumbria and how organisations can work together more effectively to make Cumbria more active more often.

The Conference will provide delegates with a mix of inspiring keynote speakers, table discussions focussing on specific outcomes for Cumbria, and a range of update sessions focussing on latest developments and good practice case studies from sport volunteering to club development.

There will also be networking opportunities allowing delegates to share views and experiences from across the sector. The event will conclude with an inspirational presentation by mountaineer Jamie Andrew.

Jamie Andrew is an incredible mountaineer from Scotland who lost his hands and feet in a horrific accident in the French Alps. Miraculously, despite his handicap, Jamie has carried on with his mountaineering career and has made some amazing ascents all over the world, raising many thousands of pounds for charity along the way.

He is a great inspiration and motivational speaker and tells his story with passion, enthusiasm, sincerity and humour and invariably leaves no-one in the audience unaffected.

Delegates are invited from the many organisations who have a direct and indirect role in the provision of sport and physical activity across Cumbria. These include local authorities, national governing bodies of sport, leisure trusts, housing associations, school sport partnerships, extended school providers, higher and further education, health, outdoor and tourism sectors, youth providers, regeneration companies and representatives of the voluntary sector.

Eddie Edge, Partnership Director at Cumbria Sport said "I am delighted that so many people are supporting the first Sports Development Conference of its kind in Cumbria. Cumbria is making great progress in driving up participation in sport and physical activity across all ages and the conference in an ideal opportunity to listen, discuss and share good practice about the many excellent initiatives that are being delivered in Cumbria. Issues and challenges raised by delegates on the day we all be fed into the new Cumbria Sport Strategy 2009-2013. The day promises to be informative, inspirational and enjoyable".