Royal visit to Brent gives a lift to new “Fit and Fed” programme

HRH Prince Harry paid a visit to the Roundwood Youth Centre in Willesden to lend his support to the Street Games “Fit and Fed” programme in Brent, which the Wembley National Stadium Trust has recently funded with an award of £15,000.

Fit and Fed aims to address the issue of young people who are in receipt of free school meals during term times, but who then have no access to either good food or social provision during the school holidays. This programme seeks therefore to provide both a nutritious lunch and sports or other activities in a venue close to where the young people live, to ensure that they are literally “fit and fed”.

Importantly, the Street Games tried-and-tested model for Fit and Fed is designed to work in partnership with local communitiy organisations which are already trusted by young people, supporting them to deliver services in a particular area. The Prince visited a session at the Roundwood Youth Centre run by Sport at the Heart, a local charity (and themselves a recipient of WNST funding) offering multi-sports activities for primary school-age children. At other times, Sport at the Heart runs the project out of the Charteris Sports Centre. Elsewhere in the borough, projects will be delivered by other key local providers including Youth Engagement Solutions at Vale Farm Sports Centre and the OK Club at their youth centre in Kilburn. The hope is that at the end of each programme, young people will be encouraged to carry on playing sport through the contacts made at the holiday-time sessions.

During his visit, Prince Harry joined in sports sessions with some of the younger children and also rolled up his sleeves in the kitchen, helping the youth volunteers to prepare and serve lunch.   He also spoke passionately about the need for young people to have access to good quality and healthy social activities, delivered locally to them in what they see as “safe spaces”, so that they can stay fit and strong both physically and mentally.

Stewart Goshawk, CEO of the Wembley National Stadium Trust, who was introduced to the Prince at the start of the visit, commented “WNST is delighted to be able to support the Brent roll-out of this important national initiative – and it is fantastic for the work to receive the Royal seal of approval. The need for this kind of service is, unfortunately, all too evident in communities across the borough. Our funding will help support the sports delivery aspects of the programme, which is an essential element in providing young people with the encouragement they need to live a healthy lifestyle.”

For more information on Fit and Fed visit http://www.streetgames.org/ or to donate to their JustGiving campaign visit https://www.justgiving.com/campaigns/charity/streetgames/fitandfed

Further coverage of the day’s events can be found on @StreetGames or @SportattheHeart and #fitandfed