Jeanette Bain-Burnett from Sport England visits Active Gloucestershire: A day of collaboration and community impact
Active Gloucestershire were delighted to host Jeanette Bain-Burnett, Executive Director of Policy and Integrity at Sport England, for a day filled with meaningful conversations, learning, and inspiration. Her visit provided an excellent opportunity to showcase the important work going on at Active Gloucestershire, highlight the progress of the we can move initiative, and explore Active Gloucestershire's growing connections with the local health system.
Key Aims of the Visit
The day focused on several key aims, including:
- Meeting the Active Gloucestershire team and sharing examples of our health and active environments work.
- Showcasing our system maturity and examples of trusted relationships from across we can move.
- Highlighting our connection with the local health system
- Visiting community projects to see the real-world impact of our efforts to increase physical activity and well-being.
The visit centered around several key aims, starting at the Friendship Café, where individuals engaged in a roundtable discussion with health system partners. Key participants included Mary Hutton and Will Champman (NHS Gloucestershire Integrated Care Board) and Sue Weaver from Public Health. Members of the Active Gloucestershire team – Tom Beasley (CEO), Chris Davis (Strategic Lead for Health), Sarah Haden (Director of People and Partnerships), and Rob Toomer (Senior Project Officer) – shared Active Gloucestershire’s collective journey and candid reflections on its work within the health sector. Showcasing the system maturity and the trusted relationships cultivated through we can move.
Following these discussions, the visit moved to Blackbridge, a vibrant new community and sports hub in Podsmead that is still in the building phase. Active Gloucestershire’s team members and Jeanette had exclusive access to view the site and its developments, guided by representatives from the Blackbridge Charitable Community Benefit Society. A key strength of the Blackbridge hub is the strong community involvement and the emphasis on youth voices shaping its direction, supported by significant partner investment. This visit provided participants with a tangible perspective on the real-world impact of community-led initiatives, partnerships, and the shared drive to promote physical activity and enhance well-being within the community.
Q&A with Jeanette Bain-Burnett
1. What brought you to Gloucestershire, and what were you hoping to achieve from the visit?
”I attended the ‘we can move’ conference earlier in the year and it peaked by interest in how Active Gloucestershire is working alongside communities and hand in glove with local health systems to increase physical activity and tackle inequalities. I wanted to have more detailed conversations with partners and see how the work is developing. At Sport England, we have an ambitious 10-year strategy with a strong focus on partnerships and place. My role is to ensure that meaningful policy change that involves communities is woven through everything we do, so I’m always looking for places where this is working well so that we can continue to be a learning organisation.”
2. What were your expectations before coming, and did your experience match those expectations, if so, how?
”I was hoping to meet a range of partners who are working to bring to life our ambition to improve the lives of local people through better access to sport and physical activity. We know that when people move more, they experience significant health benefits, and it is local organisations and local community leaders that are best placed to provide activities that are relevant to their communities.”
”It was great to be a part of a roundtable with local NHS and Public Health colleagues, alongside Active Gloucestershire colleagues to hear about how the relationship between local health systems and sport and physical activity has developed and grown over many years, resulting in deep-rooted relationships of trust and a focus on how the two work together to serve local people. I had the chance to visit a working construction site for the first time ever, in the form of the new community and sports centre being built on the Blackbridge development site, which I understand will be a groundbreaking new facility, with its roots in the Big Local movement, funding from a mix of local and national sources, and (something close to my heart) dedicated facilities for local young people, who have had a hand in shaping the project. I enjoyed meeting the team involved in making the project happen – representatives from the council, the community trust, a dedicated youth worker, and, of course, the Active Gloucestershire team.”
3. What stood out to you the most during your visit?
”I was really struck by the commitment to community leadership and young people’s involvement across the ‘we can move’ programme.”
4. If you could highlight one key takeaway from the visit, what would it be?
”My key takeaway was a reminder that it’s important to let local partnerships to grow over time. The partners I met had been working alongside Active Gloucestershire for many years, and it was clear that there was genuine trust built with communities and between organisations.”
Kirsty Dunleavy-Harris, Deputy CEO at Active Gloucestershire said “Having Jeanette visit was a fantastic opportunity for us to highlight some of the great work our partners and changemakers are doing locally across Gloucestershire. It was so rewarding to hear her recognise the strong collaborations we’ve built through we can move, showcasing the impact we’re making together. We’re really grateful for Jeanette’s time and support. I’m especially proud of everyone involved, from our we can move partners to the Active Gloucestershire team, whose efforts made the day a success and showcased the strength of what we can achieve together.”
Thank you, Jeanette, for your visit and continued support!
