News reports located on this page = 2.

Funding to help the inactive become active!

LIVERPOOL is limbering up to encourage people to get active thanks to new sports funding. The City has been awarded ₤300,000 by 'Get Out Get Active' a national, ground breaking project which aims to work with some of the least active communities or groups in the country, and give them the confidence to take up a physical activity and change their lifestyle for the better.

Liverpool City Council bid for the funding and will use the grant to focus on members of the LGBTQ+ community, students in higher education and those people who have caring responsibilities. Aimed at both disabled and non disabled people, the City Council will work together with Merseyside Sports Partnership to develop programmes for each target group over the coming months. As well as the physical benefits, the aim is to improve mental wellbeing, strengthen community spirit and increase confidence.

The Get Out Get Active scheme began in 2016, and by 2023 it will have:-

► Reached over 40,000 individual participants, with at least 4 in 10 remaining active.

► Engaged 1,500 volunteers' support.

► Supported 2,500 volunteers and covered the cost of staff training.

For more information, please visit:- GetOutGetActive.Co.UK.

Deputy Mayor and cabinet member responsible for sport and leisure, Councillor Wendy Simon, said:- "One of our priorities is to do as much as we can to ensure all communities across this City can engage and get involved with sport and activities. Making sport accessible to all is key, and this funding means we can focus on 3 particular groups of people who may not currently experience the many benefits of having a more active lifestyle. There will be a real emphasis on working with these communities to find out what they perceive is their barrier to taking up an activity and then creating a programme which will help to remove these obstacles so that positive changes can be made."

Strategic lead for Business Improvement for the Merseyside Sports Partnership, Kerry Stewart, said:- "MSP is proud to have been able to support Liverpool City Council in successfully bidding for the Get Out Get Active funding. We're very excited by its potential to reach people who experience greater barriers to participation. So, we're looking forward to supporting the project further by using our insight expertise to help demonstrate the positive impact of the fantastic work being planned."

Ready, set, read! Over 30,000 children across Liverpool Schools unite for City's 3rd mass Readathon

DRAGONS, wizards and hungry caterpillars are on the curriculum for 30,000 children across the City as the Liverpool Readathon returns for its 3rd year next month. More than 100 Schools have signed up to take part in this year's event, from 2 March to 13 March 2020, which will include a visit from Waterstones Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell. The Liverpool Readathon will also incorporate a Citywide Drop Everything and Read (#DEARLiverpool) at 10am, on World Book Day, on Thursday, 5 March 2020, which is also open to local community groups and businesses as part of the Liverpool City Council led Year of Reading #LiverpoolReads initiative. The Readathon is organised by the Liverpool Learning Partnership with the charity:- 'Read for Good,' which has been running its Readathon in individual Schools since 1984. Children taking part in the event will be sponsored to read whatever they like; from comics to classics; with the emphasis on reading what they love.

Money raised will be used for School libraries and by the charities to fund their work in Liverpool, including Read for Good's mobile bookcase and resident storyteller, at Alder Hey Children's Hospital. The 1st 2 Liverpool Readathons raised more than ₤33,000. How to Train Your Dragon's author and Waterstones Children's Laureate Cressida Cowell is hosting an event for primary Schools at The Epstein Theatre, on Wednesday, 4 March 2020 and then visiting Alder Hey Children's Hospital in the afternoon. Read for Good's storyteller, Wilf Merttens will inspire older children, at 2 Secondary School events, on Tuesday, 10 March 2020. There's still time for more Schools to sign up via email. For more information visit:- ReadForGood.Org.

Read for Good chief executive, Justine Daniels said:- "Learning to love to read as a child is 1 of the greatest things you can do for so many reasons: from academic attainment to emotional well being. For some children our Readathon is the spark that inspires a lifelong love of reading and for many more, it's a fantastic way to reinforce and revitalise reading habits. Liverpool was the 1st City in the UK to run our much loved Readathon across its whole School community back in 2017, in a model that's now been copied by other Cities including:- Manchester and Leicester. We can't wait to see the creative ways Schools will run it for the 3rd time."

Reading co-ordinator for the Liverpool Learning Partnership Jenny Holder said:- "We're already known as a City of football, music and culture; and increasingly Liverpool is also becoming known for being a City of readers, especially in 2020 with the Citywide Liverpool Year of Reading campaign. We know our 3rd Readathon will create a real buzz about books and reading across the City's Schools and #DEARLiverpool on World Book Day, on 5 March 2020, is something we'd love all children, teachers and the wider community to join in with; regardless of sponsorship."

Cabinet member of education, employment and skills and lead for #LiverpoolReads Cllr Barbara Murray said:- "It's great news that so many Schools across Liverpool have 'booked' their place on the Readathon this year. It's an incredible opportunity to engage so many children and young people, and it's wonderful that it is also happening during the City's Year of Reading. This is now the third time that Read for Good and the Liverpool Learning Partnership have brought the Readathon to Liverpool and I'm so pleased that it has gone from strength to strength after the City was the 1st place to have a Citywide event back in 2017. But the Readathon isn't just for our young people! I'd encourage all the City's grown ups to get involved in Drop Everything and Read for 10 minutes, on Thursday, 5 March 2020, at 10am, and raise all important funds for School libraries and for Alder Hey. And don't forgot to let us know what you're up to using #DEARLiverpool."

Alder Hey's arts co-ordinator Vicky Charnock said:- "Read for Good's storyteller and bright orange mobile bookcase are well known at Alder Hey, where the service has been running since 2014. We love the loop of children in our Schools reading to bring stories into our Hospital. Imagination is a ticket out to the wider world when you're in Hospital and the power of stories to entertain, uplift and distract is incredible and something I've seen 1st hand at Alder Hey with Read for Good."