Hartlepool Sport

“To support a culture of excellence, active lifestyles,

a love of learning and community service”

Origins...

The PFC Trust was set-up with a broad mission of ‘helping Hartlepool people’. Within a short time, it was identified that ‘Sport’ was a major element of the Trust’s focus. Parallel to the Trust being created, a series of discussions were held between Hartlepool Borough Council, Hartlepool United Football Club, Hartlepool College of Further Education, #LoveHartlepool representatives and The PFC Trust.

Subsequently, on 10th February 2020, The PFC Trust board agreed to carry out a scoping study to discover the best use of its resources within sport in Hartlepool, to support clubs and to support the preventative agenda for health and wellbeing, with the ultimate aim of making the sport-arm self-sustaining. The 12 Sport England Local Delivery Pilots were studied, with key themes and ideas that could be useful to Hartlepool, being built into the scoping study.

Covid-19

As we know, the Covid-19 pandemic changed everything. "Hartlepool Sport" early stage networks were utilised to help town efforts to support those shielding at home. Later, we ensured that the complicated re-launch restrictions, and government support packages were accessible to clubs.

Following the completion of the scoping study, and presentation to the PFC Trust board, Hartlepool Sport CIC was established on 1st September 2020. The broad ambition being to bring together networks of individuals and organisations, and aim to replicate some of the Local Delivery Pilot work, albeit on a shoe-string budget, and ultimately secure more investment into the town.

What We Do...

“Sport has the power to change the world” is what Nelson Mandela said 20 years ago at the inaugural Laureus Awards in Monaco. That was true then and it is still true today. Hartlepool has a long and proud history of sport, with several clubs being older than the NHS itself, they have been at the forefront of local health and wellbeing for generations.

After 10 years of austerity, the public sector is now facing unprecedented demands for services from an ageing population with more complex needs, a reducing budget, the additional pressures of a global pandemic in our midst and the real world effects of Brexit still to be felt. Preventable conditions are costing the NHS £6.1bn each year a rate which is entirely unsustainable and is why the public sector is now focussed upon prevention.

Sport clubs and other non-public sector providers of physical activity in Hartlepool are in a position where they can support the public sector to deliver on the preventative agenda, adding scale to any plans and ambitions to help improve outcomes for our people and our communities.

Hartlepool Sport has created an informal network of clubs, offering support, sharing best practise and key research and will help them to continue to do more of what they do best, and help them become an integral part of supporting the wider aims of helping people have a healthy and active lifestyle.