ALBION IN THE COMMUNITY JOINS FOOTBALL LEAGUE 'BUILDING HEALTHIER COMMUNITIES' CAMPAIGN - 12th Jan '10

Brighton & Hove Albion community project ‘Albion in the Community’ (AITC) have played a key role in launching a campaign initiated by The Football League Trust to improve the health of local communities.

‘Building Healthier Communities’ is an umbrella campaign that will focus all future health work of the Trust and representatives of AITC intended to highlight the vital work they are doing throughout Sussex.

The launch was held at MK Dons home stadium MK on Friday November 27th and was attended by Mike Penning MP, Shadow Minister for Health, who gave his full backing to the health initiatives in place at Albion and congratulated the community team for their dedication to make a difference.

Speaking at the launch, Mike Penning MP said: “The Football League is incredibly successful in its work to improve the health of its local communities. I warmly welcome its commitment to build on that success by launching the ‘Building Healthier Communities’ campaign. League clubs are at the heart of their communities and it is fitting that they are using the undoubted power of football to tackle the big social issues of the day.”

Working with over 1.5 million people a year, the Football League Trust uses the power of football to break contemporary social barriers and to build healthier communities throughout England and Wales.

In the health area, Football League clubs already work to deliver projects on: drug and alcohol abuse; sexual health awareness; mental health; ethnic minority health schemes; smoking cessation; improving access to health services; reducing heart disease; combating obesity and improving healthy eating; and raising awareness of general health campaigns.

The Trust has now committed to targeting even more future health projects as it seeks to build healthier communities.

Dave Edmundson, General Manager of the Trust speaking at the event, said: “The Football League Trust is committed to building healthier communities around each one of our 72 clubs in England and Wales.  Our activities already reach over 1.5 million individuals across England and Wales and we are determined to build on this success with a real focus on improving the health of our communities.”

Albion in the Community Health Development Manager, Stuart Christie was at the launch and told seagulls.co.uk, “The event demonstrated the real commitment the Football League have made to developing health initiatives around the country and here at Albion in the Community we believe that the work we are currently delivering in weight management, smoking cessation and cancer awareness is making a real difference and we look forward to working with the Football League and other key partners to develop our projects and work to build healthier communities across Sussex.