Seashell Trust celebrates sport in run-up to Paralympics

In the run-up to the Paralympics in Rio, Seashell Trust will be holding an inter-college sport day for special SEN colleges across the north west at SportCity in Manchester.

Now in its sixth year, some 180 young athletes with a wide range of abilities will attend this celebration of sport on Thursday, May 26.

The students participating have a range of complex needs and disabilities, including multi-sensory and communication difficulties.

Activities will include field events such as javelin, shot putt, and high jump, and track events fully adapted to the athletes’  abilities at the venue built for the Commonwealth Games in 2002.

Maureen Wilkins and Gemma Lynch, from the Seashell Trust, said: “This is a unique event for our young people to participate in, which outlines the importance of healthy living, staying active and a being involved in something within the community alongside their peers.

“It also creates positive partnerships and breaks down barriers that prevent young people from participating in sports of any kind.”

The event is organised and funded, along with a small booking fee for participants, by Seashell Trust – a Cheadle Hulme charity that runs a national centre of excellence in care and education for young people with complex needs and disabilities, with multi-sensory and communication difficulties.

This year each athlete will also receive a goody bag, with a T-shirt and additional items.

Special colleges bringing competitors include: Arden College, Southport; Beaumont College, Lancaster; Cheadle and Marple College, Stockport; Fairfields, across the North West; Grange College, Gorton; Bridge College, Openshaw; Henshaws, Old Trafford; Keystones, Manchester; and Aquinas College, Stockport.

The trust also will be running an all-inclusive tri-Seashell event, which will involve a duathlon and a triathlon for people with severe and multi-sensory needs, at Seashell Trust’s Cheadle Hulme campus on Sunday, July 17.

For information or to book on to the event please go to the Seashell Trust website.