- Trust to increase number of community programmes to 30 to help all parts of the City
- Tracey Crouch, Sports Minister, and Martin Glenn, CEO of the FA, also endorse Trust’s work
Cambridge United Community Trust received support from His Royal Highness Prince William the Duke of Cambridge as they launched Game Plan 2020, the Club’s new strategy for community work over the next three years.
Game Plan 2020 builds on the Trust’s work to date and adds a further 12 programmes. The 30 initiatives across the areas of health, education and inclusion all aim to help create a fairer and more prosperous Cambridge for all. It includes new projects in mental health, literacy and loneliness alongside deepening existing work in disability sports, science in schools and volunteering. Details of all projects can be read here.
In his foreword to the strategy document Game Plan 2020 HRH The Duke of Cambridge said: “Cambridge United is a very close neighbor of the East Anglian Air Ambulance, where I was a pilot for two years, at the heart of a community to which I have a very strong personal connection. It is encouraging to see how active the Club is in the local area – from running lunch clubs for pensioners through to hosting disability football sessions for all groups. The Club’s new mental health programme for young people is particularly innovative and important.
“Cambridge United is the epitome of a good community-based Club. The ambition of the Cambridge United Community Trust, on behalf of the Club in the local community, is one that many other football clubs – big and small – could learn from across the Country. It is great to see Cambridge United raise this ambition further and look to build on their outstanding community work of recent years. By focusing even more help on those who need it most, the Trust will ensure thousands of local people can benefit from the positive power of football. Good luck with the important work.”
Tracey Crouch, Sports Minister, said: “It is great to see Cambridge United using the power of sport to have such a positive impact in their local community. Their new strategy - Gameplan 2020 - will build on the great work of their Community Trust and am sure will be a big success. I am particularly pleased to see the Club starting a new mental health programme in schools next year. I know myself just how sport can make such a difference to a person’s mental well being.”
Martin Glenn, CEO of the Football Association, said: “The work of the Cambridge United Community Trust is a shining example of how a professional football club can be a true force for good in its local community. It is great to see the Trust extending the chance to play the game to every part of society - from people with different disabilities to senior citizens who still love to kick a ball. The Club is now setting out its new ambitions to do even more to tackle inequality and provide opportunity. Everyone at the FA wishes them every success with these exciting plans.”
Graham Daniels, Chair of Cambridge United Community Trust, said: “Everyone associated with Cambridge United is honoured that HRH The Duke of Cambridge has endorsed our community work in this way. We are proud to have such high level support for the important work of our Trust from Government and the Football Association. It is testament to the hard work and passion of all the staff and volunteers who have done so much to drive the Trust’s work since it was formed. The Trust has been an important symbol of the Club’s desire to become a genuine community club that uses the power of sport to help every part of Cambridge wherever we can, 7 days a week.
“Cambridge is a fantastic global city. It is world class in so many different ways. And we are proud that our Club is based here. It is also however a city which is home to some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country - many of whom live very close to our home at the Abbey Stadium. The Abbey Ward has, for example, the highest degree of child poverty in Cambridge.
“The social responsibility to do more for these groups and to help close the inequality gap falls at least in part to organisations such as Cambridge United through the Community Trust. We believe that Gameplan 2020 with its 30 programmes focused on the areas of health, education and inclusion can help create a fairer and more prosperous Cambridge for all.”