ActiveWestminster Awards

ActiveWestminster awards 2011 - meet the winners 

Congratulations to all the winners who received their award from Paralympic swimmer Giles Long MBE.

Children from Pimlico Academy, winners of the Active School Award, also met Olympic high jumper, Dalton Grant and highest national ranked badminton player, Elizabeth Cann. Dalton and Elizabeth visited the school during assembly before giving them a high jump practice session.

Winners received tickets for the London 2012 Olympic Games, courtesy of GLL.

Winners are pictured with Giles Long, Dalton Grant, Elizabeth Cann and Cllr Steve Summers.

Active Resident

Mark Boardman

Mark co-founded Aslan Football Club in 2009 to help young people in Maida Vale through free football coaching. He secured funding from a local church to set up the club offering priority to young people from disadvantaged backgrounds who may not otherwise be able to afford the coaching fees.

The club is now affiliated to Middlesex County Football Association Coaching sessions are run by UEFA B and FA1 standard volunteers who also mentor the young players to help them reach their full potential in sport and in life.

Aslan FC is a place where young and unemployed people can grow in confidence, gain recognised qualifications and nurture their passion for sport.

Highly commended

• Eartha Pond
• Yue Ning Law

Active Volunteer

Saman Jafar, Kyu-Yo-Bu-Shin

Living in a hostel aged 16, Saman Jafar wanted to do something positive with his time and give something back to his community. He says: “When I got placed in a hostel, I struggled. I couldn’t get a job and had a lot of free time.”

He decided to take action and signed up to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. He then went on to pass his FA Level 1 coaching award. This led to a volunteering role at community football club Kyu-Yo-Bu-Shin where he coaches young people aged 8 - 17 and is a great role model due to his dedication and his ability to coach a wide age range. 

He is now studying engineering and planning a fundraising campaign for a Raleigh International expedition to Costa Rica. He has also joined Westminster’s youth council and youth forum.

Highly commended

• Ian Forde
• Sat Saluja, Open Age

Coach or Community Exercise Instructor

Peter Mason, The Connection at St. Martin's

Peter runs a football team for homeless people at The Connection at St. Martin’s. He is a UEFA B licensed football coach and has been running the club for 18 years where he encourages people to take part by catering for everyone’s needs.

He removes all potential barriers and ensures travel expenses are covered, free training equipment is provided and people are involved in leagues so they have something to work towards. He is very committed to developing his players professionally and puts them forward for opportunities like the Homeless World Cup and gets them involved in tournaments to develop their talent.

Highly commended

• Dan Blackmore, Queen Mother Sports Centre
• Dimitrios Fragkoudis, Central London Community Healthcare NHS Trust

Outstanding Contribution

Andrew Morrison, Samba Street Soccer

Andrew used to play professional football until he suffered an injury. He continued playing in the park where local children asked if they could play with him. Eventually he set up Samba Street Soccer.

Over 100 children and young people now belong to the club, many of whom are from disadvantaged backgrounds. He helps people of all ages and abilities to develop their social and sporting skills whilst giving them a sense of community and pride.

Over 60 boys and girls have been recognised by pro-club academies and invited to take part in trials. As a result 12 have been signed by clubs including Fulham, Chelsea, Arsenal and Manchester United.

His colleagues say: “he encourages young people from all backgrounds to be part of the club. People have been through hard times and have behaviour issues, but after a session of hard work and encouragement it is good to see each child leave with a smile.

“I’ve been involved in football and coaching for as long as I can remember and Andrew is the best coach I’ve worked with. He has opened up opportunities that have previously not existed for kids in this area. There are not many people like him.”

Highly Commended

• Jeff Armand, Stowe Boxing Club
• Turly Humphreys and Kofi Oppong, Circle Sports

Champion of the Future

Tin-Tin Ho

Tin-Tin is number one in Europe for under-12 girls’ table tennis. She has been playing for six years and trains five times a week with a goal of winning Olympic Gold in 2016. Her dedication has resulted in her becoming the English Nation Under 11, 12, 13 and 14 Singles winner, European Minis Championship Under 11 runner up singles, Stiga Masters top 12 Under 12 winner singles and Cadet Home Six Nations Under 15 Singles Winner.

Highly commended

• Lois Roche
• Ping Ho

London Youth Games

Gilda Francois and College Park School

The school works extremely hard to ensure that the London Youth Games are accessible to all its young people. It entered students in all eight disability events and achieved particularly fantastic results in the swimming. All swimmers achieved a top three placing and the squad achieved 8th place compared to 23rd last year. The students are supported by regular training at Queen Mother Sports Centre.

Highly commended

• Abdul Osmani
• Kadeem McFarlane

Active Club

Open Age

Open Age gives people over 50 the chance to take part in regular activities in their local area. Through their programme of activities they reduce loneliness and depression. They also support people into 25 types of referral organisations including GPs, falls prevention and carers. One hundred percent of people to take part agree that activity has improved their health and wellbeing, increased their energy and improved their social life.

Highly commended

• Westminster Boating Base
• Westminster Warriors

Physical Activity, Health and Wellbeing Award

Health Improvement Team, CLCH NHS Trust for the community gym for mental health and weight management.

The winning project is an exercise referral scheme that supports people with mental health issues to increase their level of physical activity by using a community gym at Paddington Recreation Ground.

Highly commended

• Fitness4Women, subsidised exercise classes for women
• Open Age

Inclusive and Active Award

Paddington Recreation Ground and Queen Elizabeth II School

The winners have worked together to develop a physical activity programme for young adults with learning disabilities with outstanding results. The programme has been a great success increasing student’s confidence and improving their self-esteem.

Highly commended

• Academy Sport
• Queen Mother Sports Centre

Active School 

Pimlico Academy

Through a renewed focus on sport and leisure, Pimlico Academy has increased GCSE PE pass rates increase from 9% to 83%. It runs 40 sports clubs before and encourages healthy lifestyles through rewards, assemblies and awards ceremonies.

Students can take part in Duke of Edinburgh and Junior Sports Leader courses and also benefit from talks by inspirational sports people.

It also benefits the community. The school’s sporting facilities can be hired by those who live and work nearby and are also used by local primary schools and for inter-school competitions. The Academy organises an annual fun run for 250 staff and students to raise money for local charities.

Highly commended

• Gateway Primary School
• Westminster Academy

Active Place

Queen Mother Sports Centre

The Queen Mother Sports Centre supports and encourages local people to live healthy lifestyles.

The centre is continually growing its activities and programmes so there is something for everyone. It recently achieved provisional inclusive fitness initiative status in only two months.

Highly commended

• Paddington Recreation Ground
• Academy Sport