Organisers of Elevate, Elite Sport and COPA have announced Metro Blind Sport as its Charity of the Year partner for the 2019 trade show, held at ExCeL London on May 8-9.
Recognising an official charity for the first time at this year’s event, Elevate aims to promote disability sport and physical activity to the 10,000+ expected attendees through leveraging its partnership with Metro Blind Sport.
Metro Blind Sport is a London based charity that opens the door to sport for all vision impaired people, regardless of age or sporting ability. The charity aims to encourage participation and to create opportunities to take part in a wide range of activities including bowls, archery, football, tennis, athletics and swimming.
The partnership between Elevate and Metro Blind Sports will further promote the inclusive nature of the trade show and attract more people with disabilities to attend. At the event, Metro Blind Sport will supply volunteers to assist blind and partially sighted visitors who are attending. Volunteers will also be fundraising at Elevate through Bucket Collection, as the charity relies heavily on donations to subsidise its membership offer (£10 for life). The money goes towards a wide range of things including court and pitch hire and coaching.
Metro Blind Sport will also have a stand in the Elevate exhibition where it hopes to engage a range of key decision makers in conversations around what more can be done to make sport and physical activity more accessible for those will visual impairment and addressing the current issues that exist.
Further pushing this agenda, Metro Blind Sport CEO, Martin Symcox will be presenting as part of the seminar, ‘Making sport and physical activity accessible for all’, where he will explore inclusive approaches to adapting facilities for all.
Martin Symcox, CEO of Metro Blind Sport, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to partner with Elevate and are so thankful for their support. Being their nominated Charity of Year for 2019 provides an incredible platform for Metro Blind Sport to raise awareness of our services, educate people on the sporting opportunities available for blind and partially people, encourage support for campaigns and of course to raise funds for our charity.
“Providing safe, accessible and high-quality sport and physical activity opportunities for blind and partially sighted people is at the core of what we do. What better way to raise awareness of the opportunities and to highlight the barriers that exist for blind and partially people, than at the UK’s leading physical activity trade show.”
Max Quittenton, Founder and Director of Elevate, added: “Creating inclusive environments and overcoming barriers to participation has always been high on the agenda at Elevate, so we are proud to be partnering with Metro Blind Sport to further these conversations.”
For more information about Metro Blind Sports and how to donate, please visit: https://www.metroblindsport.org/about-us/donate/