Village Games Information

Village Games offers help and support to village groups, sports clubs, and local people with a passion for sport in and around Heanor and Ripley, assisting them to set up and run a whole range of fun and inspiring activities for the benefit of the local community.

We can support you set up a whole range of sports like netball and football, physical activities from archery to Zumba as well as traditional village games, such as tug-o-War and Welly-wanging!

Inspired by the 2012 Olympic Games, the Community Sports Trust have recruited a team of co-coordinators as well as a Coach and Volunteer Development Officer to support villages in Amber Valley, Bolsover, Derbyshire Dales, High Peak, North East Derbyshire and South Derbyshire.

Our team of Village Games Officers are working out and about in every corner of Derbyshire. They're all highly qualified, enthusiastic, motivated and friendly. Their job is to listen to what local people want. They have the skills and contacts to help communities get new activities going and recruit volunteers to keep them running. After just a year we've made a huge difference in villages all over the county. We want to hear from other villages who want to get involved.

The Village Games is a project supported by Sport England, Derbyshire County PCT, Derbyshire County Council and all the rural District Councils. The aim by the end of the three years is to have villages across Derbyshire taking part in regular sport and physical activity, with inter village competition, festivals and events throughout the year, particularly around the 2012 Games.

There are some great examples of villages doing some of this sort of thing already, and the Village Games team are hoping to inspire others to do the same.

Amber Valley Village Games Coordinator, Heather Palfreyman said: "To make all this happen, we'll be looking for volunteers, young and old, to help with running activities and events- everything from coaching, to collecting money on the door, putting up posters and spreading the word within the villages. Without local people, the Village Games just can't happen! Local people need to decide what sorts of activities and sports would work in their village too, so we are looking for people to come forward with ideas".

If you are from a Derbyshire Village and would like to get involved, go to www.villagegames.org.uk for more information and for contact details of your Village Games Co coordinator.