Community Outreach, Reebok Sports Club, Canary Wharf, London.

Community Outreach

At the Reebok Sports Club we believe in playing an active part in our wider community. We work with local schools and projects to encourage a healthier and fitter lifestyle.

The Reebok Sports Club and the Local Community

Flavour Gateway Catering

The Club donated most of the old furnishing from the Reebok Bar & Restaurant and some kitchen equipment to City Gateway's social enterprise/catering training kitchen Flavour Gateway, we look forward to their new cafe opening in the summer of this year.

Flavour Gateway Catering is an exciting new social enterprise based in Tower Hamlets. We offer organisations across the City and East London an opportunity to taste the multi-cultural flavour of the area ranging from South Asian specialities to traditional British cuisine. All of our dishes are fresh and full of flavour, always including healthy options. We specialise in buffet lunches and finger food, and enjoy working in partnership with you to meet your specific needs.

The business has been developed by the Enterprise Hub of local regeneration charity City Gateway. While offering a high quality and professional service, Flavour Gateway is also a social enterprise, providing training and employment opportunities for unemployed community members and running a community café in Bethnal Green whilst financially supporting City Gateway.
Burdett Neighbourhood Centre - Tower Hamlets

This is a community centre that hosts regular activities throughout the year, providing training and employment opportunities for local residents around health, education, training, employment and the environment.

We will continue to work with ELBA this year to help our local community get fit and healthy. January 2012 saw the start of another great local initiative with the Reebok Sports Club offering free, women-only exercise classes at the Burdett Neighbourhood Centre near Poplar.

Kelly Wootton, one of our most experienced group exercise instructors, helps up to 20 ladies each week to keep fit, many of whom have never exercised before.

For more information visit www.poplarharca.co.uk
New Horizon Youth Centre

New Horizon Youth Centre works with young people who are vulnerable, homeless or at risk. Many of the people they help have a history of rejection, harm and abuse and have problems that stem from poor self-esteem and low confidence.

The centre aims to help these young people improve their lives by providing a range of psychological and practical support services, including advice on housing and job seeking, an on-site nurse, gym facilities, and counselling.

The Reebok Sports Club is keen to support this cause by donating fitness equipment to the centre’s gym. Exercise is proven to be incredibly beneficial to aiding motivation and helping individuals overcome many other challenges.

For more information visit www.nhyouthcentre.org.uk
John Scurr Community Centre

The John Scurr Community Centre works with residents of Newlon. The centre’s services have a strong emphasis on sports activities and health, allowing individuals to interact with others, stay healthy and build self-esteem.

Recently, the extremely popular women only fitness classes saw a drop in attendance when the club imposed a charge. The Reebok Sports Club was able to help by providing a fitness instructor (Kelly Wootton), which meant that the classes could remain free and accessible to all. This provided a much-needed boost to the women who use the centre and do not otherwise have access to free fitness services.

For more information visit www.newlonfusion.org.uk
Fight for Peace

Fight for Peace provides young people with free classes in boxing and martial arts. It operates in communities with high levels of crime and violence. Boxing is a proven way of helping overcome community issues such as division and violence and, combined with education and personal development, helps individuals realise their full potential.

With more than 1,000 members and an average of 156 young people attending each day, Fight for Peace needed help in maintaining its facilities. The Reebok Sports Club came to its aid by donating fitness equipment to its centre in North Woolwich.

For more information visit www.fightforpeace.net
City Gateway

City Gateway aims to bring hope to women and disadvantaged young people in the communities of Tower Hamlets. It achieves this through running programmes, workshops and courses that engage and train individuals, providing them with all the skills and confidence necessary to start work or further education.

Among many other services, City Gateway runs fitness classes and offers a sports apprenticeship. The Reebok Sports Club will be donating four cross trainers, 15 spin bikes, and several balance boards. This will help City Gateway to fulfil its goal to ‘build active lives’ and improve health, fitness, motivation and confidence by promoting sports-related activities.

For more information visit www.citygateway.org.uk
ELBA (East London Business Alliance)

ELBA connects businesses with the East London community. By providing mentoring and volunteering opportunities, and apprenticeship schemes in disadvantaged areas, ELBA aims to ease problems of unemployment and poverty by focusing on individual development.

The Reebok Sports Club works alongside ELBA’s employment team to help find people both temporary and permanent employment. Furthermore, it is running apprenticeship schemes to train individuals, offering them the opportunity to find employment and improve their lives.

For more information visit www.elba-1.org.uk
FOILS

Reuters, the Reebok Sports Club and the London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets have teamed up to offer a unique opportunity to primary and secondary schools, to develop their skills in the Olympic sport of fencing.

The students were coached at their schools by qualified instructors, leading to them gaining a Basic Foil Proficiency. Heats were then held to select 32 competitors to participate in a tournament. The children competed for the Reuters FOILS trophy at the prestigious annual fencing tournament on June 22, 2007, held at the Reebok Sports Club.

Fencing is one of the less well-known Olympic sports and by offering coaching and a tournament to inner London schools, the FOILS organisers hope to develop an interest in the sport within the Borough.

This initiative is part of the East London Business Alliance Legacy 2020. In future years we hope to expand the number of students and participating boroughs.

According to Ivan Newman, Head of Internal Service at Reuters and a member of the Tower Hamlets ELBA board, the initiative “gives East London students a unique opportunity to develop coordination, speed, agility and self assurance and at the same time a love of competitive sport”.

Ian Mahoney, Managing Director of the Reebok Sports Club, said: “This is a fantastic opportunity to become involved with the local community and create something special that will be remembered by the children for the right reasons for some time to come.”

Louise Rambaud, Partnership Development Manager for the Tower Hamlets School Sport Partnership, added: “This is the first year fencing has been offered to many of our schools and it has proved to be an exciting activity which students are thoroughly enjoying. It is wonderful to see their enthusiasm for a new and different Olympic sport.”

Tower Hamlets School Sport Partnership works with schools strategically, to deliver high quality physical education and school sporting opportunities for all pupils.