WINNERS of the Proud of Barnsley Awards!

If you haven’t already seen on our social media Grassroots Sports Academy (GSA Community CIC) were nominated and we have now WON the Proud of Barnsley award in the Charity Organisation category!

The Proud of Barnsley awards are organised by the Barnsley Chronicle and take place every year at the Metrodome. It’s a night to celebrate all the amazing work that the people of Barnsley are doing day-to-day to help our community. Therefore, Grassroots Sports Academy CIC has been recognised for all our hard work this year. Not only were we nominated but we’re now WINNERS!

It was an absolutely amazing night. We were surrounded by all the hard working people of Barnsley who have worked together to make our community a happy place.

We had a lovely meal on a table with our hard working team, some drinks and a lot of laughs. We watched all the other people, businesses and communities being recognised for all their hard work.

What we do:

There’s a few reasons we were nominated in the Charity Organisation category. But mainly it was for everything we do in our community. As you’ll have heard us mention, we run free sessions in a few of our local care homes. Our coach David Wilkinson spends so much time raising as much money as he can to keep these sessions going. Whether it be through business sponsorships or through fundraisers (he’s just rode a 170 mile bike ride!) he’s always working extra hard.

We host our care home initiatives to make sure care home residents are keeping healthy, both mentally and physically. Our team are smiling faces they see every week, they’re someone to talk to, people to look forward to seeing. We love our care home sessions so much and it’s a privilege to be trusted by all the care homes we work in.

David also runs our Bears Den sessions. David has always been keen to push for more affordable and better mental heath help in communities and with his love of fitness Bears Den was created. He hosts both normal gym sessions and also free 8-week mental health bootcamps where people can come to spend time with people, talk to new people and help their fitness improve. All of which in turn aids their mental health. David is changing peoples lives through sport and physical activity. The Bears Den family has grown to full classes and sold out 8-week programmes.

We hope as 2024 winners we will see you back in the Metrodome next year as 2025 nominees and maybe winners!

Thank you for your nominations and we cant wait to carry on all the hard work!