The Cumbria County Golf Partnership has announced that it has linked up with the Active Cumbria team to oversee a wide range of projects designed to encourage more people to give the sport a go.
Effectively Active Cumbria will act as the county development officer for Cumbria, allowing the County Golf Partnership to make the most of the available expertise.
Jason Budd, North East and Cumbria regional officer for England Golf, welcomed the breadth of experience Active Cumbria will bring to the campaign to make it easier than ever for people to get into golf.
He says: “Active Cumbria will be drawing upon the skills, knowledge and sport development experience across a wide number of their staff in order to deliver specific objectives and meet identified targets within the Cumbria County Golf Partnership Strategic Plan (2013-2017).
“To ensure the effective delivery of future co-ordinated golf programmes like Get into Golf, Active Cumbria has formed a specific Golf Development Project Team, which will ensure the effective planning and delivery of such programmes.
“The benefit of this is that the expertise of a range of staff from within the organisation will be able to be utilised.
“This is an exciting development for golf in Cumbria and the team is looking forward to working with clubs and facilities in promoting a sport that brings many health and social benefits.”
Taking the lead role for the project team will be Becky Underwood, who will act as the point of contact for clubs and golf facilities across Cumbria.
Becky has worked in sports development for 12 years, undertaking a number of roles for Active Cumbria including Volunteer Development Officer and has also led on the staging of the Cumbria School Games.
However the CGP will also be able to draw on the skills of a team including Bruce Lawson, Senior Manager (Development); Richard Metcalf, Development Officer (Coaching); Russell Maddams, Development Officer (Club Link Maker); Emma Martin, Marketing & Communications Lead; Emma Broadbent, Marketing & Communications Support; and Jackie Hayhow, Project Support Officer.
Becky Underwood believes the new partnership will benefit both would-be golfers and clubs in Cumbria.
She says: “This is a great new piece of work Active Cumbria is taking on from one of our key National Governing Body partners.
“I really hope the additional knowledge the core team bring to developing local clubs will have a significant impact on the work of the Cumbria Golf Partnership and that we will be able to show people what a great game it is and how easy local clubs are making it to get into golf.”
The new team will be tasked with several key projects including:
- Development and implementation of programmes to encourage structured and regular participation in golf, concentrating on 14-25 years and 26 years plus.
- Supporting the development of golf opportunities at colleges and universities.
- Working with County bodies to create a high quality pathway and programme of opportunities for talented junior golfers.
- Support golf clubs to recruit and retain members through national programmes.
- Market and promote schemes through various avenues, including Social Media and Websites.
The arrangement is effective until March 31, 2017.
Becky Underwood can be contacted via her email becky.underwood@cumbria.gov.uk or on 07717 586 430 and is keen to engage with clubs and golf facilities as soon as possible.
Cumbria County Golf Partnership www.cumbriagolf.org