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CEO Update
As we have spent another month in lockdown, we have all had to learn different ways of working and different ways of keeping motivated. Our team at National Office are continuing to work really hard to support the network, and the last few weeks, we have been able to share in some fun with The 2.6 Challenge.
It has been amazing to see all the creativity of everyone across the Special Olympics GB family who has got involved. At national office, we joined in the fun with varying amounts of success, but always with a smile and a sense of purpose for our amazing work.
We were also lucky to have support from our lovely Ambassadors Jim Carter, Catherine Tyldesley and Nicole Scherzinger.
We would like to send a huge THANK YOU to all those who have got involved in The 2.6 Challenge, from fundraising and donating, to conquering their own 2.6 Challenge and helping to raise awareness. We’d also like to send our gratitude to our Corporate Partners who have got involved and given their tremendous support including Coca Cola EP, Fuller's, Kerry and ESPN.
To read more about this and what else, we've been up to please click HERE.
We continue to follow government guidelines on our response to COVID-19 and our priority is to keep everyone safe and well. Our team will continue to keep you informed about any changes in advice on physical activity and social distancing.
As the COVID-19 pandemic continues to change life as we know it, we have sadly learned that we have lost members of the Special Olympics GB family. Volunteers who were well loved in the regions and who supported our athletes over many decades have lost their lives. We send out our sincere condolences to those athletes and volunteers who have lost members of their family and close friends to this cruel virus. We all feel the loss of anyone very deeply – none more so of those who have dedicated their lives to the care and support of others.
Thank you to everyone for your continued support during these very challenging times. You continue to inspire me and I am so proud to be involved in this wonderful organisation.
Stay safe, stay well and stay at home!
Michelle x
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The 2.6 Challenge - helping save UK Charities
It launched on Sunday 26 April, on what should have been the date of the 40th London Marathon, the world’s biggest one-day annual fundraising event. People of all ages and ability have been taking part and a massive THANK YOU to everyone who has been supporting the 2.6 Challenge for Special Olympics GB.
Athletes, volunteers up and down GB and national office staff got involved - from walking dogs to kitchen discos, basketball based challenges to eating Jaffa cakes! The 2.6 Challenge even offered the opportunity for volunteers from the National Alpine Championships to get back together again - virtually of course - to complete 26.2 miles with each member of the team doing their part!
Don't worry, if you've not had chance to get involved - there's still time to do your 2.6 Challenge and raise funds for Special Olympics GB. For more information and how to make a donation, please click HERE.
If you're posting some pictures, please don’t forget to tag us on your social media. And have a look on the Special Olympics GB Facebook page or on Twitter, for some more of the wonderful videos people have been making for their 2.6 Challenge.
Many thanks again!
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National Office new volunteer Ben Mathews dinosaur based 2.6 Challenge. Let's just say, it didn't go quite as planned!
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The Special Olympics GB Corona Ideas Exchange
We all know that keeping connected to family and friends is a great way of helping us to stay positive and motivated when times are tough. The Coronavirus is giving everyone a challenging time so it’s more important than ever to offer friends support and to let people know when you need a chat.
Our Special Olympics GB community is committed to the well-being of all our athletes, and our clubs are offering some fun and really creative ways of keeping connected and busy.
To see what other clubs and athletes haves been up to, please click HERE.
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Stay Connected
There’s still no news of when the UK Government will end the lockdown but by staying connected with family and friends we can #stayhappy.
Why don’t you make it a mission to phone a friend, or 2, every day? Send a snapchat (see how many streaks you can get) or chat to your friends on Facebook messenger. You could write a note and put it in the postbox – we all love receiving mail the old fashioned way!
Loads of people are using www.zoom.us which is an online video and audio platform. It’s FREE! Click HERE for full instructions of how to sign up to use Zoom or go straight to www.zoom.us and follow their guidance. It takes a bit of time but it’s definitely worth it.
Zoom is also a great way for clubs to be able to virtually meet or hold regional meetings or AGM's while we can't get together physically.
We have a team huddle each week and it works brilliantly. See above picture when the ALT joined us!
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Update from the Athlete Leadership Team
In our March newsletter we shared with you a little more about the work of our Athlete Leadership Team (ALT). So we thought moving forward, you'd like to get to know more about them and what they would like the Team to achieve together this year.
So over to Ian Harper (Chair), Kiera Byland (Vice Chair) and Katie Day (Secretary) to get us started! To see what they have to say please click HERE.
This month our ALT also held their first virtual meeting using Zoom. This was a great opportunity to check in to see how they are all coping and keeping healthy. As well as discussing ways to keep our athletes active which hopefully you are following on social media with our weekly series, Motivation Monday, Wellness Wednesday and Fitness Friday. The ALT will be connecting every month so they can help support each other and the team at National Office to navigate through these extraordinary times.
If you have any questions for our ALT or you would like to find out more about Athlete Leadership you can get in contact by emailing athleteleadershipteam@sogb.org.uk or Sam Wothers who is responsible for Athlete Leadership.
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Virtual Skating Championships
The Inclusive Skating Scottish Championships were due to be held on 17th April. Due to the Coronavirus and all or most of our skaters having underlying health conditions it was agreed for the competition to be judged on video entries. Luckily the skaters managed to get our videos submitted before lockdown!
Callum Mills earned himself gold medals for free skate, free dance and elements, plus a gold medal in pairs with Jennifer Lee. Congrats to everyone who took part and making everyone proud!
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2020 National Diversity Awards
Special Olympics GB has been nominated for the Nielsen's Community Organisation Award for Disability at the coming National Diversity Awards 2020 in association with ITV News .
Kiera Byland has also been nominated in the Postive Role Model (Disability) category.
We both need your help to get us through to the next stage. So please, if you can, click here to vote for Special Olympics Great Britain HERE and to vote for Kiera please click HERE.
Thank you!!
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#DeclutterAndDonate
Do you know about ziffit.com?
Now is a great time to be de-cluttering your home and raising money that you can put towards your personal fundraising. www.ziffit.com is a FREE online service that instantly values your unwanted books, games, DVDs and CDs and pays you directly for those you want to sell. During the lockdown they are even collecting all packages over 5kg. A great way to get fundraising!
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Who Does What at National Office
The Team at National Office are working hard to keep our Special Olympics GB community connected and supported during the Coronavirus lockdown. We have a Zoom meeting every morning where we share the projects we are working on and make sure everyone is safe and well. For a quick reminder of our roles and responsibilities please click HERE.
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And finally...
We loved everything about this video when we saw it on Britain's Got Talent recently. If you're not familiar with them, these are brother and sister Jade and Christian, also known on Twitter as @signalongwithus, and they started their own Inclusion Revolution with this stunning performance. Enjoy - but get some tissues ready - you have been warned! It's truly wonderful.
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© Special Olympics Great Britain Registered Charity No. 800329
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