Tag Archives: Impact Report

British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report!

September 11, 2020News2019, British Blind Sport, Impact ReportSaul Wynne

British Blind Sport find the top three reasons for taking part in physical activity as “being healthy”, “feeling good” and “enjoyment” in latest Impact Report for 2019

British Blind Sport (BBS) has released its 2019 Impact Report, focussing on the developments and results the charity saw throughout last year.

Please click here to download the British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report (PDF version)
Please click here to download the British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report (plain text version)

https://britishblindsport.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/British-Blind-Sport-2019-Impact-Report-plain-text.docx

British Blind Sport, the national disability sport organisation for people with a visual impairment, saw its membership grow to 1217 people by the end of 2019, with 59% of those being under 18 years of age. During 2019, the charity processed 260 sight classifications across the UK, to enable people to take part in competitive sport.

The report shows that, during 2019, the most popular reasons for taking part in physical activity were being healthy, feeling good and enjoyment. The report also showed that 78% of British Blind Sport members were meeting the Chief Medical Officers recommendations of 150 minutes of moderate exercise per week.

BBS found that the most participated in activities for people with sight loss were Swimming, Walking and Cricket during 2019, with the most attended BBS events being the National Youth Swimming Gala and Have a Go Days. Both of these events received excellent feedback for 2019, with 100% of attendants responding that they had fun and would take part again in a similar event.

When it came to member engagement, the top three visited website pages throughout 2019 were Events, Classifications and Play Sport, suggesting that service users are visiting the BBS website to find out how they can get active. BBS also saw a 35% increase in Facebook followers during 2019.

In terms of partnership working, BBS have continued to work with partners and build solid relationships in the sport and sight loss sectors, with 95% of partners stating they would work with BBS again in the future.

Alex Pitts, National Partnerships Manager, said “I’m really excited to be able to finally release our 2019 Impact Report. It reflects the hard work everyone in the charity put in last year and the fantastic results that it yielded. We’re currently working hard towards achieving our strategic aims, despite some adaptations we have had to make in 2020 due to the Coronavirus pandemic. We continue to develop projects, partnerships and engagement to maximise opportunities and our capacity for all.”

Please find attached both a PDF and plain-text version of the British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report for your reference and to share as you deem appropriate.

For more information on the British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report, please contact alex@britishblindsport.org.uk or phone 01926 424247

British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report!

September 7, 2020Article2019, British Blind Sport, Impact ReportSaul Wynne

British Blind Sport find the top three reasons for taking part in physical activity as “being healthy”, “feeling good” and “enjoyment” in latest Impact Report for 2019

British Blind Sport (BBS) has released its 2019 Impact Report, focussing on the developments and results the charity saw throughout last year.

Please find attached both a PDF and plain-text version of the British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report for your reference and to share as you deem appropriate.

For more information on the British Blind Sport 2019 Impact Report, please contact alex@britishblindsport.org.uk or phone 01926 424247

Metro Blind Sport’s Impact Report

October 21, 2019News2019, blind, Impact Report, increase participation, Metro Blind Sport, partially sightedSaul Wynne

Visually impaired individuals want to cycle, swim and go to the gym.

The three activities people with a visual impairment most want to get involved in are cycling, swimming and going to the gym. This is just one of the significant insights lifted from a comprehensive survey by Metro Blind Sport exploring the attitude, preferences and behaviours of its visually impaired network with regards to physical activity.

The survey, completed by 60 Metro Blind Sport members and 111 non-members, was conducted via an online survey. All participants were in some way already engaged with sport either directly through Metro Blind Sport or through one of the charity’s partners.

Metro Blind Sport’s Impact Report

To download a full copy of the impact report, link Here: Impact Report
If you would like to discuss any aspect of the report with Metro Blind Sport, contact the charity on martin.symcox@metroblindsport.org

Key findings:

40 per cent of participants would like to cycle, 39.5 per cent would like to swim and 35 per cent would like to go to the gym
71 per cent of members surveyed are achieving the Chief Medical Officer’s recommended 150 minutes of activity per week

Factors that would increase participation are: facilities close to home (67 per cent), availability of specialist coaching (47 percent) and somebody to go with (43 per cent)
Main barriers to participation are: venue location (17 per cent), lack of information about available activities (14 per cent) and nobody to go with (14 per cent)
Besides 73 per cent quoting ‘better physical health as an outcome of personal involvement in sport, participants also reported: improved self-confidence (63 per cent), formation of friendship groups (58 per cent), promotion of a positive attitude (55 per cent) and better mental health (50 per cent)

Almost half of participants (47 per cent) have to travel more than 5 miles to participate in sport with 28 per cent travelling more than 10 miles
Most popular reasons to participate are: to improve general fitness (78 per cent), to have fun (70 per cent), to compete (53 per cent), to socialise (42 per cent) and to lower stress (41 per cent)
94 per cent of participants feel more could be done to encourage participation amongst those with a visual impairment

The research forms part of a wider Impact Report, commissioned by Metro Blind Sport, to examine the influence the charity is having on participation and to establish what more could be done to engage those with sight loss or a visual impairment.

Martin Symcox, CEO at Metro Blind Sport, says: “Most of the information we have about our community and its engagement with physical activity is anecdotal. We identified a need to better understand what our members and wider network gain from participation, barriers which prevented them engaging more and, given the opportunity, what activities they would like to be more involved in. Findings would then contribute to our ongoing strategic plans to encourage higher levels of participation in sport and physical activity.

“The research has certainly produced some valuable insight. For me there are two standout learnings.

“Firstly, our members and wider network are significantly more physically active than the rest of the visually impaired population. 71 per cent of those surveyed are achieving 150 minutes of activity per week. This is a significant improvement on figures reported in the most recent Sport England Active Lives Survey, which states more than half (54 per cent) of people with a visual impairment are ‘inactive’, achieving less than 30 minutes per week.

“Our survey results suggest that, through availability of information, the provision of an inclusive, accessible environment with specialist coaching support, plus an adequate choice of activity, the visually impaired community will engage. It is estimated that there are two million people in the UK, including 194,000 Londoners, living with sight loss that significantly impacts upon their life. This presents a significant opportunity to leisure operators who can reduce barriers and provide inclusive services.

“Secondly, the 2019 State of The Fitness Industry Report by The Leisure Database Company, states there are 2,729 public sector fitness facilities in the UK. All of these will be offering swimming, cycling and/or gym facilities. Our survey reports these are the activities most appealing to our visually impaired community, raising the question: ‘Why is there a disconnect between available facilities and engagement?”

“Over the coming months, I plan to focus on this area. Working in collaboration with leisure operators and ukactive and providing access to our survey results, I want to help operators to better understand how to engage with the visually impaired community. In addition to the many social, mental and health benefits this will deliver to individuals, it will also open up a new market to operators who can engage with a greater percentage of their communities.”