Solihull Fixer launches campaign calling on young women to take up sport
News provided by Fixers on Monday 7th Oct 2013
A Solihull Fixer is on a mission to inspire others to follow her lead and learn to love fitness.
Britannie Crossfield is using her drive to lift more, run faster and keep on getting fitter to urge other young women to discover the benefits of exercise.
With support from Fixers, the charity that supports young people aged 16-25 to tackle the issues that fire them up, Britannie is launching a poster campaign to spread her message throughout Birmingham.
“I’ve always loved fitness, it’s always been part of my life,” she says. “I like to take part in Zumba. I actually like to go to the gym, I love being on the machines. It makes me feel like I’m on top of the world.
“But I’m really concerned about the number of females who just simply do not carry on with any fitness activity once they leave secondary school.”
Research from the Women’s’ Sport and Fitness Foundation suggests that 80% of women in the UK aren’t doing enough exercise to stay healthy, a figure that rises to 90% among girls aged 16 and under.
“The number of females in sport is terrible in comparison to the number of males,” Britannie says. “I think it has increased somewhat since the Olympics but still there’s a massive gap.
“It’s just a shame really because you shouldn’t be held back in sport for something as simple as your gender.
“The attitude difference between males and females is so drastic. Men often make going to the gym a social event. They ring up their friends, make a day of it and then they go out afterwards.
“But with females, they are much more laid back. They often simply don’t want to go, they’d rather stay at home.”
Fixers works with young people across the UK. Each Fixer is supported to create the resources they need to make their chosen project a success, with creative help from media professionals to make their own promotional material, such as films, websites or – as in Britannie’s case – posters.
“I’ve created a series of posters to encourage more 16-19-year-old females to get more involved in sport,” she says. “The posters show girls putting sport as a part of their day-to-day lifestyle.”
“Sport doesn’t have to take over your life. It can be something you integrate.”
Britannie is determined to help young women think about the wide range of sporting opportunities that exist for them, and then to encourage them to get into the habit of taking regular exercise.
“I’m going to put these posters around my own secondary school and then around other colleges and sixth forms in Solihull,” she says.
“I really hope my poster campaign will make a difference to at least one female, to make her feel there is some kind of support out there for her.”
Fixers has already supported over 9,000 young people across the UK to have an authentic voice in their community.
“Fixers started in 2008 as just an idea… an idea given a voice by some 9,000 young people over the past five years,” says Margo Horsley, Chief Executive of Fixers.
“They have reached thousands of people with their work, on a national stage as well as in and around where they live. They choose the full array of social and health issues facing society today and set about making their mark. Fixers are always courageous and their ideas can be challenging and life-changing, not just for themselves.”
Now, with a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers has extended into Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
For images, interviews or more information, please contact the Fixers Communications Team by email communications@fixers.org.uk or phone 01962 810970.
There are lots more stories about young people doing great things on the Fixers website, Twitter and Facebook pages:
http://www.fixers.org.uk
http://www.twitter.com/FixersUK
http://www.facebook.com/FixersUK
Notes to editors:
• Since 2008 over 09,00 young people in England have become Fixers and created more than 900 projects. Now with a £7.2 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers is extending into Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £29 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
Britannie Crossfield is using her drive to lift more, run faster and keep on getting fitter to urge other young women to discover the benefits of exercise.
With support from Fixers, the charity that supports young people aged 16-25 to tackle the issues that fire them up, Britannie is launching a poster campaign to spread her message throughout Birmingham.
“I’ve always loved fitness, it’s always been part of my life,” she says. “I like to take part in Zumba. I actually like to go to the gym, I love being on the machines. It makes me feel like I’m on top of the world.
“But I’m really concerned about the number of females who just simply do not carry on with any fitness activity once they leave secondary school.”
Research from the Women’s’ Sport and Fitness Foundation suggests that 80% of women in the UK aren’t doing enough exercise to stay healthy, a figure that rises to 90% among girls aged 16 and under.
“The number of females in sport is terrible in comparison to the number of males,” Britannie says. “I think it has increased somewhat since the Olympics but still there’s a massive gap.
“It’s just a shame really because you shouldn’t be held back in sport for something as simple as your gender.
“The attitude difference between males and females is so drastic. Men often make going to the gym a social event. They ring up their friends, make a day of it and then they go out afterwards.
“But with females, they are much more laid back. They often simply don’t want to go, they’d rather stay at home.”
Fixers works with young people across the UK. Each Fixer is supported to create the resources they need to make their chosen project a success, with creative help from media professionals to make their own promotional material, such as films, websites or – as in Britannie’s case – posters.
“I’ve created a series of posters to encourage more 16-19-year-old females to get more involved in sport,” she says. “The posters show girls putting sport as a part of their day-to-day lifestyle.”
“Sport doesn’t have to take over your life. It can be something you integrate.”
Britannie is determined to help young women think about the wide range of sporting opportunities that exist for them, and then to encourage them to get into the habit of taking regular exercise.
“I’m going to put these posters around my own secondary school and then around other colleges and sixth forms in Solihull,” she says.
“I really hope my poster campaign will make a difference to at least one female, to make her feel there is some kind of support out there for her.”
Fixers has already supported over 9,000 young people across the UK to have an authentic voice in their community.
“Fixers started in 2008 as just an idea… an idea given a voice by some 9,000 young people over the past five years,” says Margo Horsley, Chief Executive of Fixers.
“They have reached thousands of people with their work, on a national stage as well as in and around where they live. They choose the full array of social and health issues facing society today and set about making their mark. Fixers are always courageous and their ideas can be challenging and life-changing, not just for themselves.”
Now, with a grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers has extended into Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
For images, interviews or more information, please contact the Fixers Communications Team by email communications@fixers.org.uk or phone 01962 810970.
There are lots more stories about young people doing great things on the Fixers website, Twitter and Facebook pages:
http://www.fixers.org.uk
http://www.twitter.com/FixersUK
http://www.facebook.com/FixersUK
Notes to editors:
• Since 2008 over 09,00 young people in England have become Fixers and created more than 900 projects. Now with a £7.2 million grant from the Big Lottery Fund, Fixers is extending into Wales, Northern Ireland and Scotland.
• The Big Lottery Fund (BIG), the largest distributor of National Lottery good cause funding, is responsible for giving out 40% of the money raised for good causes by the National Lottery.
• BIG is committed to bringing real improvements to communities and the lives of people most in need and has been rolling out grants to health, education, environment and charitable causes across the UK since June 2004. The Fund was formally established by Parliament on 1 December 2006.
• Since the National Lottery began in 1994, 28p from every pound spent by the public has gone to good causes. As a result, over £29 billion has now been raised and more than 383,000 grants awarded across arts, sport, heritage, charities, health, education and the environment.
Press release distributed by Pressat on behalf of Fixers, on Monday 7 October, 2013. For more information subscribe and follow https://pressat.co.uk/
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Solihull Fixer launches campaign calling on young women to take up sport
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