Winchester 2012 Legacy Conference
Winchester Guildhall’s Bapsy Hall was buzzing with ideas last night (15 October) when over 100 people representing sports clubs, educational establishments, sports facilities, governing bodies of sport and local authorities attended a conference to discuss the Olympic Legacy.
The evening consisted of inspiring talks and films looking back on the successes in the Winchester District over the last 6 months. The audience then took part in workshops to look at all aspects of the potential Olympic legacy including grassroots sport, events, facilities, school sport and developing talent.
The workshops used Winchester City Council’s award winning ‘Blueprint’ style of community engagement and planning. Twelve fictitious characters, who are the type of people who live and work in the District, were created for the audience to work with. Sport England data was included to indicate what sports each character played.
All comments from the evening have been recorded and will be used to assist with the creation of a Legacy Strategy for Sport and Physical Activity in the Winchester District.
Members of the Sport and Physical Activity Alliance will be working together to create this strategy over the next few months after which a consultation draft will be circulated to everyone who attended the conference for comment.
Stuart Barlow, Chair of the Winchester Sport and Physical Activity Alliance said, “The evening brought back great memories of all the fantastic events which engaged with over 80,000 people in the Winchester District over the summer months. This conference is just the start of the work required to build on these successes and encourage more people to take part in sport.”
Cllr Patricia Stallard, Portfolio holder for Sport, Culture and Communities added, “It was amazing to witness all this enthusiasm in one room and the obvious commitment by all present to work together to deliver legacy initiatives. It is evident that there is enough energy and focus from all of our partners in sport to make things happen over the coming years.”