Oldham Athletic v Harrogate Town

OLDHAM ATHLETIC
COMMUNITY TRUST
GOOD NEWS FOR OACT’S ‘NEVER ALONE’ PROJECT
Oldham Athletic Community
Trust, in conjunction with
the football club and the
support of academics at the
Universities of Leeds and
Reading, have successfully
been awarded a grant from
The Ideas Fund, enabling the
enhancement of the Never
Alone provision.
The project is one of 42
schemes announced by the
Ideas Fund to receive funding
after the first round of grant
applications received earlier
this year.
The initial application
round received a total of
146 applications with the
chosen schemes having now
been selected. The projects
feature a broad range of
topics from sport, nature and
nutrition to issues faced by
disabled, refugee and LGBTQ+
communities.
The Ideas Fund is a new
grants scheme, run by the
British Science Association
and funded by the Wellcome
Trust, that enables the UK
public to develop and try out
ideas that address problems
related to mental wellbeing
through collaborating with
professional researchers.
Never Alone focuses on
providing activity for those
either currently retired or
approaching retirement,
providing a social environment
using the power of football to
engage. Across six sessions
the group will combine
watching and discussing
historic Oldham Athletic
games along with utilising
local parks to stay physically
active through scheduled
group walks.
Martin Vose, OACT Head Of
Community, said: “We are
excited to continue our Never
Alone project and thanks to
the Ideas Fund being able to
further enhance the initiative.
“We aim to use the power
of football and physical
activity to bring together a
community of individuals to
form a social group. We will
take a look back in time at
Oldham Athletic matches
from years gone by, creating
opportunities to talk and
discuss life events that link
into that game(s).”
The project will be split over
two cohorts, with the first
project schedule being:
• 19 October - Project launch
at Boundary Park. Prior
to the Oldham Athletic v
Walsall fixture we will watch
an historic Oldham Athletic
fixture before staying
as a group to watch the
following Sky Bet League
Two match.
• October (date TBC) - Group
based walk.
• November (date TBC) -
Opportunity to watch an
historic Oldham Athletic
fixture at Boundary Park on
a non-matchday.
• November (date TBC) -
Group based walk.
• 7 December 7 - Opportunity
to meet as a group prior
to the Oldham Athletic v
Tranmere Rovers fixture at
Boundary Park.
• December (date TBC) –
Christmas celebration.
In total, nine projects have
been granted funding totalling
£319,000 which are listed below:
• Pennine Mencap:
penninemencap.org
• The Proud Trust:
theproudtrust.org
• New Bridge Group:
newbridgegroup.org
• Oldham Libraries
• Get up and Grow: facebook.
com/getupandgrownw
• Oldham Athletic Community
Trust: oldhamathletic.co.uk/
oact
• Oldham Coliseum Theatre:
coliseum.org.uk
• Renaissance Oldham CIC:
renaissanceoldhamcic.org
For further details, or to
register your place on the
course, email peter.boase@
oact.org.uk.
oldhamathletic.co.uk | @OfficialOAFC 41