BALLS TO POVERTY SCOOPS AWARD

South Nottingham College’s Balls to Poverty charity sport programme has been named as a winner in the Queen’s Anniversary Prizes for Further and Higher Education. The announcement was made by the Royal Anniversary Trust by kind permission of Her Majesty The Queen, at a special reception at St James’s Palace. The Prizes recognise and celebrate the outstanding work within higher and further education institutions and the impact that they have. They are the UK’s most prestigious form of national recognition open to a UK academic or vocational institution. The winning entries range from individual departments or research groups, to major international development projects to community schemes and cutting-edge research.
Joe Sargison, founder of the project, said: “I feel very honoured that the college has been recognised for our work on the Balls to Poverty Programme over the years and it gives an opportunity for me to thank all staff, sponsors, partners, teachers, parents and members of the public who have made contributions along the way to support us with this work.
“Watching a group of youngsters chase bare-footed after a makeshift ball made of rags, I wanted to buy them a real leather ball from a local market. I was moved by what I saw in that Johannesburg Township in April 2004 and the vivid memory stays with me to this day.
“In 2005, the first ever group of 16 college students travelled to South Africa to coach young children and to hand out footballs in these deprived areas. By Easter 2012, 185 different male and female students from South Nottingham College will have since fundraised for 26,000 footballs and rugby balls and will have distributed them to over 35,000 young people in 35 different townships and ‘slums’ across South Africa and Uganda.”