The crowds turned up at Silver Jubilee Park for a special day featuring former Heavyweight champion Frank Bruno and former England Lioness Rachel Yankey recently.
Shout Sport, a new initiative from Cricklewood- based charity Ashford Place, included a panel discussion around issues such as mental health and sporting activities.
Those who attended the free event on Sunday 8 June had the opportunity to engage with sporting legends, explore new activities and celebrate the transformative power of sport.
Ashford Place were working in collaboration with the Silver Jubilee Park charity which is based at the home of Hendon FC.
‘National treasure’ Frank Bruno is celebrated for his inspiring boxing career and mental health advocacy establishing the Frank Bruno Foundation to tackle men’s mental health.
Bruno and Yankey were joined by Dr. Dorian Dugmore who is an expert in preventative medicine and wellness and offered valuable insights into the profound impact of sport on wellness.
In addition to discussions, there were free activities for all such as chair yoga, Pilates, boxing training, netball, men’s walking football, ladies’ football, Zumba, and more.
Frank Bruno said before the event: “Sport has been the best medicine for both my mental and physical health. I’m proud to join this event and look forward to getting people back into the habit of sport and physical activity.”
He told The Irish World on the day: “I loved it here today.
“It’s very, very inspirational: All different people, walks of life, different religions or whatever.
“It’s nice coming down here.
“I didn’t know all these things were going on so near my house.”
On the subject of mental health being more open than before Frank said: “Years ago, you couldn’t really say you had bipolar, people would take the mickey out of you or just laugh at you. People had never heard of bipolar or whatever.
“But it’s nice that this is spreading the word to people.
“It’s good to talk about it and get it off your plate.
“That’s the importance of things like this.”
In her career Rachel Yankey had two stints with Arsenal Ladies as well as playing for Fulham, Birmingham, New Jersey Wildcats and Notts County. She also gained 129 caps for the England Lionesses and represented Great Britain in the 2012 Olympics.
Rachel Yankey told The Irish World: “It’s been fantastic.”
Asked how she enjoyed the panel discussion Rachel said: “You had some very young people in there sitting still and listening and focusing: That’s encouraging really, that they have the discipline to be able to do that.
“But it was a fun conversation.
“I enjoyed listening to both Frank and to Dorian.
“I thought it was really, really good.
“Shout Sport need to be encouraged to do more and anything that encourages people of all ages, like you can see here, to get involved with sport, to live a healthier life, is definitely something that we need to do.
“So yeah, full backing.
“I think that’s something that we should all encourage, get kids or people of all ages to play sport, feel like they’re part of something.
“It makes us feel a lot better.”
Ashford Place is a community-focused charity dedicated to promoting social inclusion, mental health advocacy, and well-being initiatives.
Danny Maher, CEO of Ashford Place, told The Irish World: “We’ve had a very successful Shout Sport event today.
“Over 300 people here in Hendon Football Club and a very good participation by the audience.
“Great questions, great panellists, and Frank Bruno.
“It was really good to see him.
“Everybody, of course, wanted to have a word with him because he’s a national treasure.
“We’re very keen to promote the idea of the importance of physical activity and our wellbeing.
“It’s the first time we’ve done this but there have been different age ranges so it’s great to have that mixed age group coming together.
“I think the next event will focus on young people and physical activity.
“We need to get moving and keep moving for the better of our mental health.”
The inaugural Shout Sport follows Ashford Place’s work with mental health and arts festivals such as Shout London and then Shout Liverpool.
“Shout, it’s well named.
“We want to shout out about particular messages and mental health, wellbeing, physical health.
“Today is our first one in sport.
“It’s worked well as a concept and we hope to carry it on at least two a year from now on.”
Silver Jubilee Park charity is committed to creating accessible sporting opportunities and fostering a welcoming environment for individuals of all backgrounds.
Robert Morris of Silver Jubilee Park charity told The Irish World: “I think it’s gone incredibly well.
“I thought the panellists were amazing. I felt they spoke from the heart.
“I thought what they had to say was very insightful.
“I was particularly pleased we had a really diverse audience and there was a lot of children there.
“I thought that listening to panellists speak for a period of time, they would get bored but they didn’t.
“They were engaged and some of the questions that were asked by some of the younger members of the audience, I thought, were right on point.
“I think Frank, Rachel, the doctor have really endeared themselves to a whole new audience which is important.
“I’m particularly pleased with how many people were taking part in the activities afterwards because physical activity is so important for our mental wellbeing.
“We all know that sport can help with social cohesion, integration, education and promoting a healthy lifestyle.”
On the future of Shout Sport Robert said: “The idea was, if this was a success here, can we take this nationwide?
“I think the answer is obviously yes and I can’t see any reason why this shouldn’t go to a bigger and a wider audience.”
