Case Studies

Since the start of London Community Sports Network, we have been working with community groups, voluntary sector and strategic bodies to develop a shared understanding of planning, managing and delivering sports programmes.

The following is a description of five exciting projects that have shared our journey so far, providing a glimpse of the range of organisations we work with, and the impact we have had.

Crusaders Cricket

Crusaders Cricket was formed by a group of enthusiasts driven by a love for playing and watching the sport. Crusaders Cricket began playing park cricket together in 2001 as a way of supporting each other to recover from alcohol and drug misuse. Members of Crusaders Cricket were brought together through the support agency Alcohol Recovery Project and via hostels in south London for men previously homeless. Many of the clients were keen to use park cricket as a way of spending social time with their families and children and for improving their physical and mental well being.

Fitzrovia Youth in Action

Fitzrovia Youth in Action was established by young adult activists, wanting to make improvements in their residential area off Tottenham Court Road. Fitzrovia Youth in Action is a relatively small registered charity, which aims to provide youth and community development and to promote racial harmony and improve community relations through sport, art and other inclusive activities with people living in the London Boroughs of Camden and Westminster. Fitzrovia Youth in Action aim to enable young people to play a full role in their own community and achieve their potential as individuals and active members in society.

London East Connexions Partnership

The London East Connexions Partnership (LECP) spans across the ten London boroughs of Barking and Dagenham, Bexley, Greenwich, Hackney, Havering, Lewisham, Newham, Redbridge, Tower Hamlets and the Corporation of London. LECP supports over 185,000 young people within their catchment area of which up to 10,000 currently fall within the category of not being in education, employment and training.

Sikh Community Care Project

The Sikh Community Care Partnership (SCCP) is a registered charity that provides health and social care services to the Sikh community based in and around the London borough of Waltham Forest. As a comparatively small organisation currently with one full time and two part time members of staff, SCCP delivers a strong range of services including advice and education on health issues, sport and physical recreation, lunch clubs and social events. The main service beneficiaries are elderly and middle-aged Sikh people, families and more recently young people from the Sikh community. In response to the growing demands of children, young people and their parents to develop a youth sports and leisure project, SCCP worked on an application to Sport England's Active Communities Development Fund (ACDF). SCCP contacted LCSN in December 2001 seeking advice and expertise on writing their bid. We built a close and trusting relationship with SCCP's Coordinator and became familiar with volunteers and users of the service. We also took on a role in advocating the project to strategic stakeholders, as we believed in the vision of the project and in the capacity of SCCP to deliver.

Sports Out Music In

Sports Out Music In (SOMI) established in 2002 as a registered charity with the aim of improving the lives and well-being of deprived children and young people living in the London boroughs of Southwark, Lambeth and Lewisham. SOMI's services include sports and physical recreation, arts and music and training and personal development. SOMI's main service is the extensive Bethwin South East Football Club, which delivers a unique non-ability based football programme for boys and girls and operates eighteen teams for 8- 21 year olds. SOMI are based at the small Bethwin Road Adventure Playground in the London borough of Southwark and deliver all of their football development as an outreach service.