Public Backing Helps Hunslet Club Achieve Its Goal
15th January 2009
Staff at the Hunslet Club used by hundreds of people for sport, dance and drama are jumping for joy after being named the winners of a free makeover donated by Connaught. Partnerships Ltd.
The Club has won the Connaught Christmas Present publicized by 96.3 Radio Aire and as a result will receive their first makeover in over thirty seven years completely free of charge.
After making the shortlist for the vote conducted via the Radio Aire website, the South Leeds public firmly backed the Hunslet Club as they polled three times as many votes as the other two shortlisted projects combined. Over the coming weeks the Connaught team will strip back the floor of the 260 sq metre sports hall to restore the Canadian wood to its former glory and completely refurbish the male and female changing rooms, while also improving the guttering of the whole building.
“This is fantastic news!” says Hunslet Club Funding Officer Jason Slack. “We firmly believe that the children and young people in this part of Leeds deserve a games and performance space where they can have fun and proudly show what they can do with their sport, dance and drama skills and by winning this wonderful prize they now have an even better opportunity to do this.“
The campaign to drum up votes for the competition included posters in shop windows, club members delivering flyers to their neighbours door to door and the setting-up of dedicated campaign group on the social networking website facebook.com. Jason added: “Local people really got behind this campaign in a big way as they voted and persuaded their friends and families to do likewise and we are immensely proud of the support they’ve shown for our work in the community.”
Founded in 1940, the youth charity continues to run dancing football, boxing, gymnastics, drama and fitness activities for young people aged four to 18 with some even going on to become professional football and rugby players. In addition, the club now also runs a vocational education centre for over three hundred and eighty year 10 & 11 students to gain qualifications in practical work based skills.
Andy Green, Connaught area director, said: “Connaught has always placed great emphasis on making a lasting contribution to the areas in which we are working and we are thrilled to see such a deserving cause as the Hunslet Club be selected by the public to receive a much-needed makeover.
“After visiting the club it is impossible not to be impressed by the tremendous work they do with such a cross section of the local community, from young children learning gymnastics to teenagers trying their hands at car mechanics or hairdressing and adults honing their boxing skills, and we hope the newly renovated building will help inspire them even further.