Community News

NEWS AND INFORMATION FROM COCKHEDGE'S SPONSORED CHARITY (WARRINGTON WOLVES FOUNDATION)

The Warrington Wolves Foundation covers 4 main areas of work that includes: health, young people, social welfare and education. All of these categories are encompassed by sport.

Here are some examples of our work:

Young People

We run holiday clubs for young people with disabilities and learning difficulties. Activities include dance, sport and art. We also run a sports club once a month called DISC which is in partnership with the Warrington DisabilityPartnership.

We run sports clubs around the Warrington area including the more deprived parts of the town.

We are currently working with Cheshire Police and the Fire Service by engaging with young people that are on the streets on Friday and Saturday nights. Warrington Wolves players are also involved in this aspect of our work and are used as a 'hook' for the young people to speak with us.

We are involved with all 72 Primary schools in the area and provide assemblies and sports coaching as an extra activity in the calendar year.

Social Welfare

2008 has seen us work with young people in supported accommodation as well as homeless men based at the Salvation Army in Warrington. These groups have completed nationally recognised awards in leadership. Skills learnt include: communication, organisation and leadership. We hope to receive more funding in 2009 so that we can continue this work with more homeless centers in the area.

We are also currently working with Thorn Cross Young Offenders Institute in which Sports Leadership courses are being run by our coaches. So far over 30 young men have completed the course and are now waiting to put their skills to good use in a controlled community environment.

Education

As well as the Sports Leadership courses we also look to educate members of Warrington in other ways. In 2008 we ran our first 'Supporter to Reporter' course in which a group of people visited the stadium over a period of six weeks. In this time they met with a journalist from the Daily Mirror to talk about writing articles, they spent time on a match day with a photographer to pick up some top tips and they also attended the press conferences after each Super League Rugby game.

Health

This is a key area of the Foundation's work as we encourage people to engage in sport and physical activity. We believe that sport can assist in reducing crime and ant-social behavior and improve relations between people from different backgrounds and to develop a greater sense of 'community ownership'.
We are currently running a programme called 'TRY Sport' in which schools from the Inner Wards of Warrington are encouraged to try a new sport such as golf, rugby league or handball. Pathways are then developed so these young people can continue to take part in their activity outside of school.

For more information visit the website on: www.wolvesfoundation.com