NSPCC and Local Sports Clubs’ Focus Group.
The NSPCC has been asked by Down District Council to review child protection practices associated with Council-run sports facilities.
On Thursday 16th June Brenda Horgan and Annette Page, representatives from the NSPCC’s Child Protection Consultancy visited Newcastle Leisure Centre to meet with representatives from local sports organisations and to hear their views on the use of the pavilion at Donard Park, Newcastle.
The review will focus on implementing additional child protection measures, where necessary, and making recommendations for all council-run pavilions.
[caption id="attachment_25139" align="alignleft" width="400" caption="Councillor Carmel O'Boyle, right, with members of the child protection focus group in Newcastle."]
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NSPCC Child Protection Consultancy in Northern Ireland helps organisations to become safer places for children and young people, offering a range of skills, knowledge and experience to help organisations develop, evaluate and review their safeguarding policies, procedures and services.
Newcastle SDLP councillor Carmel O’Boyle who represents the Council on Down Clubmark added after Thursday’s meeting, “The establishment of this focus group is a very welcome development and is the result of concerns that I have raised in Council over many years about child protection issues in our pavilions.
“A new pavilion in Donard Park has been put on the long finger for so long because we are working towards the provision of a state of the art leisure centre in Donard Park that will incorporate changing rooms etc for our sports people.
“Until that happens however, we need to address the issues that face the teams using all of our pavilions and we need to put in place whatever measures we can to mitigate these. A lot of very useful and positive suggestions were made by members of the clubs who attended the meeting and we look forward to receiving the NSPCC report of its findings,” said Councillor O’Boyle.
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