Inspire » Leicestershire & Rutland

The Loughborough Flames Project is an innovative and exciting sports leadership programme set up by Loughborough College and the British Heart Foundation to improve the health of Loughborough's young people.

Every 6 months, staff from the British Heart Foundation train 100 Sports leaders on how to deliver the BHF Active Club Pack Training, the sports leaders then deliver physical activity sessions to 250 local primary school children and go on to organise the Loughborough Flames Festival as a celebration of the children's achievements.

The National Sports Festival 2010 (NSF2010) was three days of breathless and breathtaking sporting action. Taking place over Easter Bank Holiday Weekend 2010 at Loughborough University, the event attracted in excess of 2000 members of the Ismaili Muslim Community from within the UK and further afield including; Germany, France, Holland, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and the USA.

The event was fully designed and managed by the Youth and Sports Portfolio of the Shia Imami Ismaili Council and aimed to give everyone the opportunity to try something new; including Badminton, Basketball, Dance, Football, Golf, Squash, Table-tennis, Tennis, Netball, Volleyball and Swimming.

Working in partnership with Leicester's Phoenix Square, young people have commissioned, developed and performed in two short films celebrating the theme of Personal Best, one of the key values of the Olympic and Paralympic Movement.

The films will be premiered at Phoenix Square and will tour to rural festivals throughout Leicestershire in Summer 2010.

A spell-binding evening of dance, poetry, lyricism and theatre that reaches deep into the heart of hip-hop culture and its African roots. Explosive and emotive, this show is proof that hip-hop is a whole lot more than just hoodies and bling

Igniting Hip-Hop will be showcased at Curve as part of Spark Children's Arts Festival, a two-week summer festival of stories, wonder and magic for children and families.

A spectacular outdoor performance based on the tale of the Monkey King including dance, movement, comedy, martial arts, music, giant puppets, masks and percussion to create a unique visual treat that will tour to outdoor festivals in summer 2010.

Young people's theatre groups from Colombia, Italy, Korea and Lithuania will descend on Leicester for a five-day festival and a truly global programme of performances.

The festival complements De Montfort University's hosting of the International University Theatre Association 8th World Congress - the first time the congress has been hosted by a UK University.

Power of Dance is an exciting new opportunity for young people aged 16-25 to train with choreographers from around the world. They will be taken from rehearsal studio to stage, exploring different dance styles from Argentina, India, New Zealand, South Africa and England.

This intensive dance training will prepare young people over six weeks to perform in a new dance-opera called Wonderland.

This project targets 80 young people aged 11-14 from across the City of Leicester, and provides them with the opportunity to take part in a range of different outdoor adventurous activities over a two day festival.

The activities on offer included: Archery, Canoeing/kayaking, Climbing, and Sailing/raft building.

It is hoped that this event will not only have inspired young people to take part in sport and physical activity but also due to the nature of outdoor adventurous activities have given young people the courage and determination to have that ‘have a go’ attitude achieve personal goals, meet new friends and succeed.    

Sport@VAL recruits, trains and supports a larger and more diverse volunteering workforce.

Visiting clubs, schools and colleges attracting people who may not have previously considered volunteering, and showing that sport is not just about participation, that the values of excellence, respect and friendship can also be achieved through volunteering.

My Games My Legacy is a project designed to raise awareness of the opportunities presented by the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games for the population of Leicester, Leicestershire & Rutland.

Participants of the project will be asked to reflect the following:

What does the Olympic and Paralympic Games mean to you?

How will you create a lasting legacy from the London 2012 Games?

They will then be given the opportunity to make a personal pledge for 2012 that will have a positive impact on their life. This could be an individual pledging to run a marathon, or cycle to work, or volunteer in their local community, or try a new challenge. It could also be a business pledging to introduce a healthy workforce scheme or win a contract through Competefor

The University of Leicester will deliver a number of lectures inspired by the 2012 Games.

This lecture series offered by the University of Leicester will attempt to make sense of the Olympics both past and present and begin the University’s engagement with London 2012.

The first lecture will take place on Thursday, 21 October, with Dr Fiona Fairhurst, CEO of Zero Point Zero One, speaking on 'Supersuits' - The Design and Development of Aerodynamic & Hydrodynamic Equipment for Sport. On Monday, 8 November, Professor Gary D. Rawnsley will deliver the lecture on Media and Communications at Beijing. On Thursday, 2 December, Dr Harry B. Rossiter will deliver the lecture on The Limits to Human Performance: Lesson from Olympia’s.

Managed and delivered by Leicestershire and Rutland Sport, the Oldest Athlete project, celebrates and recognises the lifelong participation of local athletes.

The project is designed to encourage young people to enjoy lifelong participation in sport and physical activity through the examples of their elders.

 The oldest athletes will be recognised at a celebration event of local past and present Olympians and Paralympians, where the athletes will share their experiences with small groups of children from Get Set schools. The children (aged 5-16) will then be invited to take part in a question and answer session with the athletes.

This is a brand new development for Leicester Cobras to get young disabled people involved in playing wheelchair basketball.

The project is lead by Leicester Cobras (Registered Charity) and supported by the Great Britain Wheelchair Basketball Association, Ellesmere College, Leicester City Council and Lancaster SSP.

The participants will play on 8 foot baskets (as opposed to 10 foot for adults) with smaller basketballs and junior sports wheelchairs. The sessions will take place over 25 weeks in term time in 2010 / 11 and 2011/2012.

Artists Amy Franceschini and Myriel Milicivec will transform a piece of land on Loughborough University Campus into a hub of creative and horticultural activity, exploring new ways of thinking about food in our daily lives.

With workshops, feasts, demonstrations and tours, Foodshed will be a unique gardening experience.

One Night Only was a pioneering eight month dance workshop programme which culminated in the world premiere of an integrated dance piece, based on Saint-Saens orchestral suite ‘Carnival of the Animals’.

The piece was created by a diverse company of BME, disabled and non-disabled professional dancers with groups of young people with learning difficulties from local schools and community groups. The project was a unique opportunity for these dancers to work together and create a piece which was inspiring, moving and life changing for those involved.

Streetstyle, Sportstyle Then and Now 89/09 is an exhibition exploring what people in the East Midlands were wearing in 1989 and what they choose to wear in 2009.

The exhibition included everyday and sports clothes loaned by local people as well as designer and high street clothes preserved by museums around the East Midlands. Exhibition themes included sportswear, music, cultural and personal identity, politics, sustainability and shopping.

Walk your way to the Games will provide walks to 2012 walkers

The borough has an extremely diverse population and this programme specifically targets those demographics that would not traditionally engage in community activity, walking is stereotypically a past time enjoyed by middle aged/retired white people. This programme aims to engage with mothers & children, travellers and people of ethnic minorities.

Loughborough students union represents 131 different nationalities of students studying at Loughborough University. In order to encourage integration of all students, learning from one-another, and uptake of international opportunities such as work, study and coaching programs overseas, LSU has created a campaign called “Experience the World”.

This programme has been inspired by London 2012 and specifically the presence of the Japanese and Team GB at Loughborough, the project organisers want to harness the excitement created by the involvement of the Loughborough campus in the lead up to 2012, and directly involve the students by integrating them with students from all over the world.

This project has been generated as a result of Loughborough University’s status as a pre games training camp for both Team GB and Japan.

The power of London 2012 has acted as a catalyst to improve the volunteering workforce in the local community, this project aims to recruit an army (1000+)volunteers that can be deployed across the community to deliver an exceptional customer service for visiting athletes. Roles will be varied and will include catering, crowd control, event management, transport, technology, administration and support. The project has been designed to reward commitment, acknowledging those who contribute more hours by elevating them to positions of greater responsibility.