In 2004 Bingley Harriers & AC was the first Athletics Club in West Yorkshire to be accredited with Clubmark. In fact the clubs presentation was used by other clubs in the area as guidance on how it should be done. Three years later the club reapplied and was awarded Clubmark again but in 2012 the guidelines changed and we had to submit our new application and provide all the revised evidence to support our claim.
The outcome was that Bingley were awarded Clubmark yet again with the comments that our application was the “best application we have seen”. On Tuesday 2nd July Lucy Armstrong the England Athletics representative will visit Beckfoot to make the formal presentation to the club. Sport England Clubmark is the universally acknowledged cross sport accreditation scheme for community sports clubs. It is based on criteria which must be supported by specific evidence.
Clubmark is administered by your sports National Governing Body in our case England Athletics and is based on four key areas of club development it centres around: Activity/playing programmes – this includes, for example, coaching qualifications required, insurance and coach to participant ratios Duty of care and welfare – appropriate risk assessments, health and safety policies, training, compliance and child protection policies Knowing your club and its community – this ensures that your club is committed to fairness and equity in respect of the way in seeks to attract and retain members from your local community Club management – which covers issues to do with club and committee structures and the general running of the organisation
Alan Oates – Vice President Bingley Harriers & AC