Russell Homes drops in to Hornets’ holiday sports camp

Delight to see grass roots activities back on track

Rochdale Hornets’ holiday sports camps have been hailed a great success after around 70 local youngsters took part in activities over the school holiday. The sessions were put on by Hornets’ Sporting Foundation and held at Rochdale’s Mayfield sports centre.

Children from across the borough had the chance to get back to playing sports together following the easing of restrictions, and loved every minute of it.

Local housebuilder Russell Homes was recently unveiled as the Sporting Foundation’s sponsor for the next two years, and helped to fund the holiday club.

Sales manager Jackie Matheson popped down one afternoon to meet the coaches and take the youngsters some tasty treats, and found herself joining in with some of the drills.

Jackie said: “The children were having such a lot of fun, it really was fantastic to see them enjoying themselves so much. Many said how much they’d missed playing with friends over lockdown and they were so excited that sports camp was back on this hols.

“Lots of the youngsters and their families are Hornets fans and love their rugby and were so proud to be doing this camp with ‘their club’. The coaches are fantastic and have a lovely rapport with the kids, they do such a great job.

“We’re very proud to be sponsoring the Foundation, its community activities play such an important role in getting kids active and enjoying playing together. I hadn’t intended to join in but the kids were so enthusiastic so I had to give it a go. I’m not a natural rugby player but it was good fun all the same. And I couldn’t go down empty handed, so took some sweet treats as a reward for all their hard work.”

The sport camp was open to boys and girls age seven to 16 and was free for those who attended. The children enjoyed rugby and football coaching, general fitness, ball skills and even some arts and craft activities, designing a new kit for the team.

Foundation coach Kirsty Crehan was delighted to see the sessions proving popular as ever, she said: “It’s brilliant to have the kids back at sports camp, they just love running around, having fun and learning new skills. We focus mainly on rugby but play all sorts, the aim is to get them active and help foster a genuine love of all sports.

“We really appreciate the support of Russell Homes, without sponsorship we couldn’t put the camp on for free and that could limit access for some children. Everyone at the Foundation has worked so hard to get activities back up and running and it was really wonderful to see so many youngsters here over the holiday.”

The Rochdale Hornets Sporting Foundation programme continues throughout the year with a variety of events for children, young people and adults, including more activity camps during the Summer Holiday. For more information see the Rochdale Hornets website.

Russell Homes is a Manchester-based housebuilder delivering high quality new housing developments across the region. Over recent years the company has invested millions into providing new homes in Rochdale, including the award-winning Greenbooth Village development in Norden, the hugely successful Cedar Gardens development in Heywood, and is currently on site with 100 new homes at Stubley Meadows in Littleborough.

Featured image: Russell Homes Sales Manager Jackie Matheson and Rochdale Hornets Sporting Foundation coaches Kirsty Crehan and Niamh Mullins with local children