Leeds Law Firm Irwin Mitchell Supports Bradford Disability Sports Event

Expert medical negligence and serious injury lawyers from Irwin Mitchell’s Leeds office were on hand to support the West Yorkshire Panathlon Challenge yesterday (3 December) at the Richard Dunn Centre in Bradford.

The event, which was sponsored by Irwin Mitchell, offered an opportunity for disabled children of secondary school age from the region to take part in a variety of sports.

The Panathlon Challenge provides sporting opportunities to more than 5,000 disabled young people every year and the event in West Yorkshire included a wide-range of sports from boccia and polybat to table cricket and new age kurling.

Yesterday’s event saw Calderdale retain their title and qualify for the Panathlon Yorkshire regional final next April. Their team made up of children from Brighouse High School and Brooksbank Sports College beat teams from Bradford, Kirklees, Leeds and a guest team from Wakefield who were competing in the games for the first time.

Panathlon is open to young people with a range of physical and sensory impairments as well as those with severe and complex learning difficulties.

Samuel Hill, Lauren Bullock and David King from Irwin Mitchell’s medical negligence and serious injury teams in Leeds attended the event, with the team refereeing the boccia events. Irwin Mitchell together with Boccia England and West Yorkshire Sport recently set up a new boccia club in Leeds.

The club meets at the Armley Leisure Centre every Wednesday 17:00 to 18:00 and is run by staff from Irwin Mitchell who are also qualified boccia coaches.

Samuel Hill, a medical negligence lawyer at Irwin Mitchell, said:

Expert Opinion

“It was absolutely fantastic to be involved in the West Yorkshire Panathlon again. It was great to see all the children taking part and enjoying themselves.

“In our work we see the positive impact events such as these have on those who live with disabilities. In the short time we’ve been running the boccia club in Leeds we’ve introduced lots of people to the game and it was enjoyable to put our refereeing skills into action at the Panathlon.

“The organisation works extremely hard to support disabled children who want to be involved in sport and we were delighted to be able to offer our sponsorship and support, particularly as we know how important events like this are for young people.” Samuel Hill - Partner

Tony Waymouth, Chief Operating Officer at the Panathlon Foundation, said: “This event represents another step forward for Panathlon in the County. The event has seen as rise in standards, competition and numbers participating.

“We look forward to Calderdale and Kirklees now going to compete in the Regional final and taking on the North and South of Yorkshire. Panathlon would like to thank the continued support of Irwin Mitchell and West Yorkshire Sport in making this happen and providing disabled young people with an experience that impacts on their lives.”

Nigel Harrison, Chief Executive of West Yorkshire Sport, said: "We would like to thank Irwin Mitchell for their ongoing support with Panathlon and the whole school games programme. This year’s Panathlon raised the bar with more young disabled people having the opportunity to participate in a wider variety of competitions. 

"It’s great for this years winners to have progression onto the regional competition in April 2016 and for us to open up the opportunity to younger participants in our primary Panathlon in June. We look forward to working with Panathlon and Irwin Mitchell in the coming months."