In this blog Emma Tatlow, Active Lincolnshire CEO, reflects on four years of Uniting the Movement in Lincolnshire.

'Uniting the Movement’ the Sport England national strategy with a vision to transform lives and communities through sport and physical activity, launched in 2020; As we celebrate its four-year anniversary this week, here are my reflections on how Active Lincolnshire, as one of Sport England’s system partners, has bought the strategy's vision to life in Lincolnshire.

Since 2020, we've focussed our efforts locally on tackling the inequalities that exist in access to sport and physical activity. Working with a vast network of organisations, partners, groups and individuals, we continue to connect, listen, and review data and insight to understand the local need and priorities in Lincolnshire.

Physical activity and moving more plays an important role in improving our physical and mental health and wellbeing. It can support the economy, reconnect communities, tackle inequalities, support environmental sustainability and help create a stronger society for all.

Here in Lincolnshire, Uniting the Movement is delivered through Let’s Move Lincolnshire, that’s the local strategy to tackle the challenge of physical activity. Active Lincolnshire are the custodians of the Let’s Move Lincolnshire strategy, that connects local system partners together working towards common goals.

Enabling people to lead more active lives is something that requires a ‘whole system approach’ – that is, it's everyone’s business. It's about policy, advocacy, communities, planning, ways of working, access to facilities, personal circumstances and motivations, and more. No one organisation can impact the change required at scale, we all need to be working together.

Looking back at our work since Uniting the Movement launched, we can see the real impact we've made as an organisation in enabling more Lincolnshire residents to enjoy the benefits of being active. Here are twenty key headlines from our work in this period:

20 things since 2020

Working locally with system partners:

1. Refreshed the Let’s Move Lincolnshire strategy, using data, insight and working with partners to agree the priority themes

2. Developed strong connections with the Integrated Care Partnership to embed physical activity in health and care practices and pathways

3. Provided multiple opportunities for partners to connect at events and through networking

4. Developed a place expansion partnership approach to securing Sport England funding which will allow us to support place based working in priority areas of the county

Supporting a resilient and relevant physical activity sector:

5. Supported the physical activity sector workforce, with training, skills, launching the Active Skills Hub supported by UK Shared Prosperity Funding from the South & East Lincolnshire Councils Partnership

6. Created a new Sport England funded Safeguarding and Welfare Officer role supporting clubs and providers with best practice, skills and education

7. Celebrated and showcased the sector through the annual Lincolnshire Sport and Physical Activity Awards

8. Supported 98 clubs with small grants from the Together Fund grant scheme

9. Supported clubs in East Lindsey with digital skills, online presence and promotion through the UK SPF funded Lets Move Lincolnshire East Lindsey project

Tackling Inequalities:

10. Launched our Diversity Inclusion Action Plan and championed equality, diversity and inclusion in all of our work.

11. Established an EDI advisory group, connecting lived experiences with NGBs and activity providers to collectively tackle barriers to participation

12. Enabled four non-profit organisations to deliver the wheelchair sports programmes in their local areas, providing them with refurbished sport wheelchairs and trailers

13. Become a Disability Confident Employer and reviewed our inclusive recruitment processes

14. Launched the nationally recognised Inclusive Language Guide

Commitment to the environment:

15. Published ‘Moving to Support Our Planet’ our environmental sustainability plan, firming our commitment to the environment and our role in supporting the sector to be sustainable

16. Created the Wheels for Life bike donation scheme, funding bike mechanics to be trained and cycle tools and parts for volunteer run hubs.

Promoting options to be active:

17. Listed thousands of activity sessions on the Let's Move Lincolnshire activity finder and website

18. Launched Street Tag in Lincolnshire - to date users have clocked up over 70,000 miles.

Positive experiences for children and young people:

19. Invested over £1m in schools, enabling them to open their facilities to local communities. 26 schools have delivered over 1,700 community activities

20. Worked with School Games Organisers to provide support to their programmes targeting less active children

I am very proud of our organisation and the team who are all passionate and committed to making a difference. Our Board of Trustees are volunteers, chaired by Paul Baron; each of the Trustees past and present bring expertise, diversity of thought, challenge and rigour to discussion and help us to continually move forward.

We’re grateful to Sport England for the system partner funding that enables us to deliver this work. And to our local partners and organisations who connect into the work, and are all delivering exceptionally valuable services to the people of Lincolnshire.

If you want to join the movement in Lincolnshire get in touch. We’d love to hear from you.

You can find more about our team and connect with them on our Team Page.