Irwin Mitchell Have Donated Funds To NLY Community Sport To Help The Group Keen Running ‘Fun Days’

A Yorkshire not-for-profit group, that delivers sports coaching sessions to people with disabilities and learning difficulties, has received a grant from the Leeds office of national law firm Irwin Mitchell that will enable them to continue putting on ‘Fun Days’ for children to try new sports.

The grant from the law firm to NLY Community Sport, an organisation run by two young coaches in James Grayson and Connor Rollinson, will go towards funding three-hour multi sports fun days. These fun-days are for children with disabilities and learning difficulties and give them the chance to experience new sports, including, Boccia, Table Tennis, Basketball and Football.

Irwin Mitchell’s Don’t Quit, Do It campaign seeks to support the benefits both physically and psychologically of being involved in disability sports and is supported by multiple gold-medal winning paralympian Hannah Cockroft MBE.

Charities, individuals and groups involved in inclusive sport are eligible to apply for money to help with the cost of training, buying specialist equipment or taking part in special events. The programme has already given out £10,000 to projects across the UK.

Cathryn Godfrey, an associate and serious injury specialist at Irwin Mitchell’s Leeds office, said: 

Expert Opinion

“At Irwin Mitchell, we believe in building strong links within the communities in which we work, and supporting good local causes.

“Through our work we have seen on numerous occasions how sport has been able to help our clients with rehabilitation following serious injury.

“Unfortunately, while there are over 12 million people with disabilities in the UK, only one in six actually takes part in sport regularly.

“Part of this is due to the lack of funding and availability of specialist equipment and, with that in mind, we hope these grants will help support individuals and sports groups so they can realise their true potential.

“When we heard about the work NLY Community Sport are doing we were so impressed with their drive and determination, opening up different sports to people who previously may not have had the opportunity to try them.

“We hope the sport can inspire others to realise that disability need to be a barrier to sport.” Cathryn Godfrey - Associate Solicitor

NLY Community Sport work in partnership with Pontefract Pirates DFC and Nostell Miners Welfare FC. They also run an after school football club with students at a leading Specialist School in Barnsley.

The organisation has had many success stories, the most recent being Callum Deary, 19, who was selected by Mencap GB football team to play in the upcoming European Championships in Geneva. A remarkable achievement considering only seven months ago Callum was not actively playing football.

Callum’s success was recognised by Disability Sport Yorkshire as he was shortlisted for the Young Male Achiever of the Year award at the annual Disability Sport Yorkshire Awards, which took place at Leeds United F.C. on Friday 16th March, with over 300 guests in attendance. Irwin Mitchell picked up an award themselves winning the Disability Sport Yorkshire Community Engagement Award on the night.

James Grayson, Development Officer at NLY Community Sport, said: “We are thankful to Irwin Mitchell for selecting us to receive one of their grants.

“The money will help us to provide around five or six of our multi-sports fun days. We have managed to put two on and they have been well-received but the cost of running them has prevented us from doing as many as we would have liked.”

The law firm was also the Official Legal Services Provider of the World Para Athletics Championships London 2017 at the London Stadium in July last year, while it also supported the one-day Superhero Series event held at Dorney Lake in Windsor in August.

Read more about Irwin Mitchell's Don't Quit, Do It campaign.