Royal seal of approval for sports club

Sheffield Cerebral Palsy Association Sports and Social Club was chosen to receive a Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service.

Some of the club’s members were invited to Buckingham Palace for a garden party celebration to mark the occasion.

The club, which has been running in the city for 15 years, provides opportunities for people with cerebral palsy and learning disabilities to take part in social and sporting activities.

Founder Eddie Edwards said: “We use sports and the social activities as a way to help people fulfil their lives. We have been doing this successfully in the Sheffield community for a good 15 years and it’s really nice to get that recognition from the Queen.

“It was also great to be able to take some of our members to Buckingham Palace. It was a very special occasion and everyone had a very enjoyable afternoon.”

The club provides a host of sporting and social activities – archery, table tennis, snooker, football, and the paralympic sport boccia, a kind of bowls played sitting down – from its base at Sheffield Hallam University’s sports ground on Bawtry Road, Tinsley.

It is in boccia that the club has had particular success with two of its members, both with cerebral palsy, going on to become national champs. The club also runs two disabled teams.

But Eddie said he felt one of the main reasons the club had been chosen for the award was in recognition of its work in partnership with a similar organisation in Stoke-on-Trent.