Awards Evening

Over 170 people were present at Accrington Town Hall to witness the first ever combined Sports Awards and Youth Games recognition evening on Friday 8th July.

Each of the Schools that represented the Borough at the Lancashire Youth Games were presented with a certificate of achievement by the Mayor Of Hyndburn Janet Storey, alongside one of our sporting guests for the evening, Ian Austin-cricket, Kerry Gillibrand-athletics, Mark Blewitt -Endurance swimming, Mike Duxbury  ex Man United footballer and Amanda Parkinson – athletics.

In addition to the Youth Games recognition there were 5 awards presented:
Young Volunteer of the Year
Special Recognition Award
Coach of the Year
Rising Star of the Year
Community Club of the Year

The Award Winners in Profile

Alan Phillipson is 24 years of age and a student and winner of the Young Volunteer Award.  A year ago he went on an FA Level 1 course for Soccer and has being using this qualification to assist St Peter’s Primary School in Accrington, helping to form their first ever football team.  He also helps out at Cricket and Athletics and was a volunteer at the Lancashire Youth Games.  He gives all his time freely and  this award recognises this.

Ted Watson is from Accrington Swimming Club.  He received the special recognition award for his dedication to teaching young people to swim which he has been doing for over 55 years. He has been with the club whilst at their current home at Hyndburn Sports Centre as well as their previous home at Accrington Old Baths on St James Street.  It would be impossible to estimate how many young people he has helped but it must be in the thousands.  He recently had to undergo a hip replacement but was back on poolside in 8 weeks!

Coach of the year - Mr Chris McKean has been involved in swimming for over 10 years, 4 of which have been as Chief Coach.  He encourages participation amongst some of the harder reach groups including those from ethnic minority backgrounds and those with disabilities.  He is also having an impact on the high performance end with some of his swimmers making the Lancashire squad. He has been the chief coach of the "Team Hyndburn" swimming team at the Lancashire Youth games for 5 years winning gold/silver and bronze.  He also plays an active part on the Swim Hyndburn Development group and through this has enabled many club members to attend training courses to teach swimming or to become qualified lifeguards

Phillip Aspinall - "Rising Star".  The two sports he is involved in are Cricket and Badminton. Cricket - He plays for Great Harwood for both under 13's and under 15's. He has represented his Borough in the District Team and had trials for the Lancashire under 13's. Badminton - Feb 2005 he won 3 Gold medals at the under 13 select tournament with the top 24 players in the country being invited to compete.  In April he won his 3rd consecutive National Singles title at his age group followed by the boys doubles title.He has represented England in Belgium, Germany and Denmark at under 13yrs level and he has also represented England in the under 15,s National team, the only u13 to do so.  He travels around 20.000 miles a year to represent his country. Philip is very keen on attracting sponsorship as some of his national funding has been reduced.

Grange Bowling Club.   This Bowling club from Clayton-le-Moors won the Hyndburn Community Club of the Year.  They have been recognised for their organisation of the club and their facilities and the valuable social section which is very popular amongst their members.  They are a fully inclusive club, welcoming all sections of the community.

All the 5 winners will go on to the Lancashire Sports Awards later on in the year where they are hoping to be crowned with the Lancashire Awards.  A full report on the Lancashire Sport Awards will appear following the event.