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Lions Club raise vital funds for Junior Athletics Championships

Ahead of National Thank You Day (Sunday 4 July) we want to say a massive thank you to the Lions Club British Isles for donating £6677 to Activity Alliance’s National Junior Athletics Championships.

Lions Clubs volunteers dressed up as Lions.

Junior athletes in a race. Activity Alliance is the leading voice for disabled people in sport and activity. For more than 30 years, the Lions Club British Isles has supported Activity Alliance’s event programme. Their dedication to volunteering and fundraising has enabled us to deliver Regional and National Junior Athletics Championships events year-on-year.

Sunday 4 July 2021 is the nation’s first ever Thank You day. It’s a chance to get together and celebrate the individuals and organisations who have been vital during the COVID-19 pandemic. Organisations like the Lions Club British Isles, who found creative ways to continue to fundraise for us during the pandemic. Their support has been key to ensuring our National Junior Athletics Championships is able to return for 2021. We are delighted to have a team of Lions Club volunteers joining us at the Championships this weekend.     

Our partnership with the Lions Club British Isles is essential to encouraging and supporting more disabled children to live healthy active lives. The benefits of being active are well documented. Sport and activity is closely linked to cognitive benefits, learning ability and better grade attainment for disabled children. Unfortunately, the coronavirus pandemic forced us to cancel our inclusive events and competitions, leaving many disabled children and young people with fewer opportunities to be active. But thanks to the support of our partners, fundraisers, and volunteers, we are thrilled to welcome young disabled athletes back to the National Junior Athletics Championships this year.  

Lions Clubs International Liaison Officer for the British Isles, Penny Tregillus, brings the Lions volunteers together. She explains:

“We are proud to support this event as it provides a number of young disabled athletes with the opportunity to develop their talent and compete against others from across the country.
“Our volunteers love getting stuck in, from helping at individual events, to managing the car park and packing and handing out lunch bags. Our volunteers, along with the Activity Alliance events team play a vital role in the smooth running of the event and without them events like these wouldn’t happen.”

Activity Alliance National Events Manager Jannine Walker has been heading up the National Charity’s event programme for 19 years. She said:

“We understand the important role such events can play in individual and athlete development. We cannot forget how crucial the role of volunteers is to running inclusive events year-on-year.
“Spanning over decades Lions Clubs British Isles has helped our athletics programme. Not only that, but they have continued to support us through their excellent team of volunteers. Our sincere thanks go to them for their ongoing dedication and generosity. Putting on this event would not be possible without the support from organisations like the Lions Club British Isles.”

The scaled down one day event will take place on Saturday 3 July and will see 80 young disabled athletes from across the UK compete at our National Junior Athletics Championships at Coventry Athletics Track.

Keep up-to-date with all the action from the Championships this weekend, join the conversation on social media with the event hashtag #JuniorAthletics21.