Work of Sporting Futures volunteers is recognised

13 June 2008

The contribution volunteers make to the work of Sporting Futures has been recognised.

The Derbyshire charity - which uses sport to reach out to young people and help them gain life skills and communicate better with those around them - works with hundreds of volunteers each year.

Two of its volunteers, Annette Hornbuckle and Holly Clarke (pictured), received awards at The Mayor's Thank You Event at the Assembly Rooms in Derby during Volunteers' Week.

The theme of this year's event was Youth Volunteering, and Annette Hornbuckle received her award in recognition of her contribution to the Derbyshire Building Society 10K and Fun Run.

Annette approached Sporting Futures to express an interest in helping at the planning stages of the 10K at the end of 2007.

She quickly settled in as a valued assistant to the Volunteer Manager, and used her expertise and knowledge to organise maps, plans, ID cards, car passes, marshalling points and much more.

Just days prior to the event, Annette changed roles and took on one of the hardest teams, Car Parking and Pride Park Island traffic coordinator. She did a fantastic job under a very stressful situation.

Annette's enthusiasm and passion for the role shone out and contributed greatly to the success of the event.

Holly Clarke started as a volunteer mentor in late 2007.

She was matched with a young girl who was having great difficulty at school through a family issue and was eventually excluded from school.

Since Holly began mentoring the girl she has now found a new school and she is back in full-time education.

Holly has also had a great input in helping develop social skills in many ways.

Holly has encouraged and taught the young girl to swim which at one time she would never ever have attempted due to her lack of confidence.

Holly has made a big difference to the life of this young girl and has used her own interpersonal skills to encourage and further develop the skills that the young girl has.

During Volunteers' Week many Sporting Futures volunteers also attended a thank you bbq and tried out archery at Drum Hill Scout Camp.

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