Active Impact is a charity that supports disabled young people and will feature on the front of Severn Stars' new kit; Nia Jones and Paige Reed have been appointed ambassadors for the charity and will be leading fundraising efforts throughout the Vitality Netball Superleague season
Wednesday 13 January 2021 12:26, UK
Active Impact, a charity that supports disabled young people, will feature on the front of Severn Stars' new kit as part of a new fundraising and awareness-building partnership.
The Gloucestershire-based inclusion charity will have its name and logo displayed on the seniors' kit, as the Stars' headline sponsor for the 2021 season.
Cheltenham College, a local independent school, sponsored Severn Stars in its 2019/2020 campaign. This year, as part of their charitable work, pupils and staff at the school elected to donate the school's space on the front of Severn Stars' kit to Active Impact. They will continue as a principal sponsor for the coming season.
Severn Stars' senior players unveiled the new look at a training session at the University of Gloucestershire Arena, as they continue to prepare for the 2021 Vitality Netball Superleague season, which is scheduled to start in February.
Nia Jones and Paige Reed have been appointed Active Impact ambassadors and will be leading fundraising efforts throughout the season, as well as meeting and working with some of the children and young people Active Impact supports across Gloucestershire.
"It is fantastic to be putting a new Stars kit on and getting ready for the new season," Jones, Stars' vice-captain, said.
"This kit feels even more amazing as the whole team are going to be raising awareness and funds for such a worthy cause."
"We have all heard how much small charities have struggled with fundraising in recent months," Reed added.
"We are not only looking forward to helping Active Impact raise money, but are also really excited about meeting some of the young people they support and getting to know them."
It is the first time a Vitality Netball Superleague team has supported a charity in this way and Caroline Eardley, director of programmes and policy at Active Impact, has praised the support of both Severn Stars and Cheltenham College.
"Like all small charities, the last year has been difficult for us," she said.
"We are thrilled to be working alongside Severn Stars, with the support of Cheltenham College, to not only raise awareness of what we offer in Gloucestershire, but also to extend our services and increase the number of inclusive opportunities available for disabled people to enjoy."
Nicola Huggett, the head at Cheltenham College, explained the decision that they made to donate their space on the front of Stars' kit to Active Impact.
"Each year our staff, pupils, parents and friends come together to support local charities through fundraising and volunteering," said Huggett. "We recognised that this year has been particularly challenging for these organisations and began discussing unique ways in which we could support them.
"Our relationship with Severn Stars provided the perfect opportunity to raise awareness of Active Impact and we are incredibly grateful to everyone for working hard to make this happen.
"Our work together has already sparked many positive conversations about inclusion, and we hope it generates many more over the rest of the season."
