DC09 - 012 January 20, 2009
Nottingham Forest sporting heritage celebrated through BT partnership with Football Foundation
Communicating for Success to deliver inclusive ICT learning for all ages across Nottingham
Join sporting heroes for the launch of Communicating for Success:
• Former Arsenal player and BBC TV pundit Martin Keown, ambassador for the BT and Football Foundation partnership
• Forest Manager Billy Davies, Assistant Manager David Kelly, Chief Executive Mark Arthur, and current first team captain James Perch.
• Forest legend, former Footballer of the Year and double European Cup winner Kenny Burns
Generations of Nottingham Forest stars today kicked off an innovative community project which aims to tackle digital exclusion among people of all ages across Nottingham, while promoting participation in sport.
BT and the Football Foundation, the UK’s largest sports charity, have joined forces to launch a groundbreaking initiative – Communicating for Success (CfS) – which uses the power of sport to help tackle digital exclusion and improve communications skills in the UK.
Launched at the Nottingham Forest’s football stadium the City Ground, the Nottingham CfS project will give young and old the chance to gain new ICT skills, including using digital cameras, conducting research using the internet and editing films on computers. They will be tasked with capturing the memories, current goals and dreams of sport in Nottingham to share with the wider community using their newly-acquired ICT skills. The stories of Nottingham’s sporting heritage, past, present and future, will come to life in a variety of ways and could include digital photo exhibitions, mini documentaries or even dedicated websites.
This project links a number of Study Support Centres and sporting clubs across the city. In addition to the lead centre, Nottingham Forest FC, Study Support Centres at Nottingham’s National Ice Centre and the Nottingham Tennis Centre are among others taking part.
Participants will match their ICT learning with physical activity. All those involved will be offered free football coaching led by members of the Forest in the City community department team across the participating venues. An over-50s fitness programme is also being developed with the goal of encouraging older residents to establish regular fitness programmes.
Trevor Curzon, BT board member for Nottinghamshire said: “BT is determined to tackle IT illiteracy and help people of all ages and abilities prosper through confidence with communications, computers and the internet. The plans here in Nottingham, engaging people across the whole community, are really exciting and I believe this initiative is opening the door to a wealth of experiences and opportunities for all those who take part.
“The Football Foundation has worked with us to develop Communicating for Success, combining the attraction of our national game and other sports with learning, to help people develop skills in ways they have not experienced before. This partnership is a great complement to our 2012 Olympic sponsorship and we shall bring elements of the two together over the course of the programme to foster learning.”
Paul Thorogood, chief executive of the Football Foundation said: “This partnership will enable communities to harness the power of both football and communications to ensure that those involved develop life-enhancing ICT skills. The Nottingham Forest project is outstanding – it goes beyond using the power of sport to drive ICT learning and truly engages people in a project that will impact the whole community.”
Nottingham Forest’s Chief Executive Mark Arthur said: “We’re thrilled to be a part of Communicating for Success which is a great extension to the work we already do with kids. ICT skills are increasingly valuable for people at all stages of life and a great focus for a community programme. We’re excited at the potential of this project and what we could deliver back to the Nottingham community.”
CfS will build on the Playing for Success educational programme which sees the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) and partners, including the Football Foundation and the Premier League, establish study support centres within sports clubs’ grounds and sporting venues across England. These centres help young people, mainly aged 10-14, to improve their literacy, numeracy and ICT skills and raise educational attainment.
This new programme will focus activities on ICT learning in combination with playing sport while extending the current usage of the PfS Study Support Centres to a wider audience.
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Enquiries about this news release should be made to Paul Hayward at the BT Regional Press Office on 0800 085 0660. All news releases can be accessed at our web site: http://www.bt.com/newscentre
Notes to Editors: The CfS programme is a £1 million UK-wide programme working with a number of PfS Study Support Centres which form CfS hubs. Nottingham is joined by Portsmouth, Plymouth, Ipswich, Newham, Manchester, West Bromwich area of Birmingham, Sheffield (incorporating Doncaster) and Newcastle (incorporating Middlesbrough) and Glasgow.
