North West Clubmark success

Oldham St Annes ARLFC & Waterhead have become the latest two Rugby League clubs in Oldham Service Area, along with West Houghton of Wigan to achieve the prestigious Sport England Rugby League Clubmark Award. This is a huge achievement for all three clubs who are leading the way along with the other accredited amateur rugby league clubs across the North West Region.

More than 300 clubs now swim 21 accredited

The Amateur Swimming Association is well on its way to a target of accrediting 800 clubs by March 2009 after reaching the milestone of more than 300 clubs within the programme. A panel meeting earlier this month saw a further 49 clubs awarded Swim 21 accreditation, which has taken the total to 312. The meeting heralded the last chance for clubs to receive accreditation before a new Swim 21 scheme becomes fully active.

Dame Tanni rewards rowing club with national recognition

Rowing in Stoke and North Staffordshire has received a boost with national recognition as a centre for developing junior rowing. Dame Tanni Grey-Thompson presented the prestigious Clubmark Award on behalf of Sport England and the Amateur Rowing Association at a recent ceremony.

EGU/ELGA research reveals some interesting findings

Both the English Golf Union (EGU) and English Ladies Golf Association (ELGA) are committed to developing Clubmark. Working through its regional development officers conversion from Golfmark to Clubmark is well underway and an increase in conversion rates is expected in the New Year.

Blackpool Park Golf Club receives EGU/ELGA GolfMark Award

Blackpool Park and Kenilworth golf clubs have been awarded GolfMark accreditation demonstrating their hard work and dedication to both junior and beginners golf.

World Judo Champ Presents Kin Ryu with Award

Crawley's Kin Ryu Judo Club has become one of the first few clubs in Crawley to gain the valuable 'Clubmark' award from Sport England.

Clubmark is a Sport England initiative, which provides a 'kite mark' of quality for sports clubs. It is open to any club that fulfils the necessary criteria. The purpose is to identify those clubs that have shown that they are properly and efficiently managed, provide a safe environment for young players to learn and enjoy their sport, and have a high standard of ethics towards all members.

Hinckley RFC Seal of Approval, Launched into Action...

Hinckley RFC received their RFU Seal of Approval - Year 1 Status, and Sport England Quality Clubmark accreditation at the end of last season in March, ensuring the club follows best practices in developing both the club and youth rugby.

New Seal of Approval for Teesside RU trio

Junior Rugby Union on Teesside is now more child-friendly and well-organised than it has ever been - and that's official.

Thanks to a major nationwide initiative involving Sport England, the Rugby Football Union and member clubs, a 'Seal of Approval' award was created three years ago that provides official recognition that the clubs are a 'safe, effective, child-friendly environment'.

New accrediting partner for Clubmark

Clubmark is pleased to announce that a new national governing body of sport, the Grand National Archery Society, has recently been awarded a licence to accredit its junior sports clubs.

Raising awareness of Clubmark across the sector

...by Clare MacLeod - National Clubmark Manager

Over the past few months I have been travelling the length and breadth of the country meeting with and presenting to various sections of the sports industry. From attending regional NGB forums in the North East to running workshop sessions at the Youth Sport Trust School and Sports Partnerships' conference in Telford, I have been trying to raise awareness of Clubmark, ensuring partners and interested parties are up to date with the programme, the key elements that underpin the accreditation scheme and how it can be used as a development tool.

Youth Sport Trust Hails School Sport Success

The Youth Sport Trust welcomed the results of the Government survey that showed a sharp increase in the numbers of young people taking part in PE and school sport across England.

ECB Clubmark case study

Harefield Cricket Club - How the Achievement of ECB Clubmark can Change an Entire Clubs' Attitude

Even though Harefield CC had, and still has, a thriving adult cricket membership, the Colts section had been ticking along for a few years, with no real aims or sense of purpose with regard to youth development or good practice.

Following a telephone conversation between David Holland (MCB Development Secretary) and myself, with regard to the progression of our Colts' section, a meeting was arranged at Lord's where the possibilities of our club striving to achieve ECB Clubmark accreditation were explained. We collected a ECB Clubmark Resource Pack and Evidence File, and MCB explained in a very positive manner the efforts required and the ways to achieve our goal, stressing that the achievement of ECB Clubmark accreditation would be dependent upon the amount of time, effort and project management skills that we could generate within our club. I left the meeting with a very positive attitude.

Accredited Volleyball Club Newbury Strive For Sitting Volleyball

Since working towards and achieving Volley 1 accreditation, Newbury Volleyball Club has been striving to be involved in developments within the sport, in alignment with Volleyball England's (the National Governing body), guidelines.

Licensing update from Clare MacLeod, National Clubmark Manager

I would like to take this opportunity of thanking all the lead officers at the NGBs for their support in making Clubmark more robust. We have a programme of working with both current and new NGBs to ensure that working practices are the same throughout its implementation. It would be wrong of me if I didn't mention that we have found a number of discrepancies across the governing bodies. These are not serious but serve to prove the importance of ensuring that each licensing body undergoes the process. Notably there are differences in the playing programme and in the annual health check. The Advisory Group has acknowledged these differences and with KKP are working to resolve these issues.

In addition it is hoped that the licensing process will be extended to county sports partnerships in the New Year. A significant amount of work has been undertaken by both Greater Sport and Suffolk Sport. The process is now being driven forward by Leicestershire & Rutland and Derbyshire CSPs. Results will be known early in the new year and it is hoped to roll out the process to interested CSPs following that. The next newsletter should contain training dates for CSPs.

Clubs accredited in November and December