Brentford FC Community Sports Trust partnered with Brentford FC, The London Irish Amateur Club, The Gaelic Athletic Association and Gael Londain GAA Club, to host a free Family Sports Festival at the Hazelwood Centre last Saturday which over 200 people attended.
The event aimed to highlight the strength of building partnerships through sport and how this can unite communities and grow connections. Taking place after the weekly Parkrun at Hazelwood, the event bought together families and people of all ages to enjoy a range of sports and activities including walking football, tennis, Gaelic football, tag rugby, disc golf, mini-football and more.
Refreshing and Inspiring
Brentford FC Community Sports Trust Chief Executive Lee Doyle, said, “It's all about partnership. We've got London Irish Amateurs, the GAA, Brentford Football Club all coming together to create a day that's completely free, with a number of volunteers giving their time to actually make these things happen.
“The site is fantastic, the weather has been great and the attitude of everybody taking part is just so refreshing and inspiring. This is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of what we can achieve by linking lots of organisations and, building a community and using sport to bring people together to develop social outcomes.
“As a Trust we offer youth services, health provision, mentoring, young carers provision and more. All these things put together mean we can help to build and strengthen communities.”
Growing The Community at Hazelwood
Hosted at Hazelwood, an impressive state-of-the-art centre in 63 acres of grounds situated in the riverside village of Lower Sunbury, the free event served as a warm welcome to new residents while celebrating the vibrant community spirit that defines Hazelwood.
In addition to the sports activities, the event also featured music, refreshments, and information about the partner organisations, helping newcomers explore opportunities to get involved in further community activity and programmes.
Coming Back For More
Whilst the event opened the doors to many new people, it also showcased the range of opportunities that could be offered through the power of different sporting organisations working together.
One parent on the day commented, “It’s been really good, it’s on our doorstep, my son loves football and rugby as well as trying all the different activities today. We’ve enjoyed everything, it’s been a great day and we’ll definitely come back to future events.”