On Friday 10 October 2025, North Yorkshire Sport brought together over 150 leaders, practitioners, and community champions from across York and North Yorkshire. The inspiring and action-focused Partnership Day, marking both our 25th anniversary and a pivotal moment in the region’s active future.
Hosted at the York Biotech Campus, the event was opened by Lisa Dodd-Mayne, Executive Director for Place at Sport England. Followed by united voices from public health, healthcare, voluntary and community organisations, sports governing bodies, and numerous other sectors. The shared ambition: to advance a person-centred approach to movement, sport, and physical activity — not as a standalone agenda, but woven through the systems that support health, inclusion, and opportunity.
The keynote messages struck a chord:
- Professor Andy Daly-Smith drew on lessons from Bradford’s JU:MP programme to emphasise how shared purpose must transcend organisational priorities. He shared how tackling complex health inequalities requires humility, adaptability, and collaboration.
- Professor Stacy Clemes challenged the audience to rethink sedentary living. The idea that you can “undo” long hours seated with a single workout doesn’t hold up. Instead, she urged us to embed regular movement throughout the day — a message resonating especially in workplaces and transport settings.
Many delegates spoke of how these insights challenged assumptions and opened new possibilities for their own organisations and communities.
One of the highlights was unveiling a montage video reflecting 25 years of North Yorkshire Sport’s journey — the people, moments, places, and impact that have shaped our identity. It was a reminder that our work is rooted in relationships, learning, and incremental change as much as ambitious goals.
North Yorkshire Sport Chief Executive, David Watson, said:
“It was amazing to acknowledge our 25 years of existence by bringing together so many valued partners. We hope the event galvanised our collective efforts to tackle inequalities over the next 25 years.”
North Yorkshire Sport have worked closely with Sport England, since their inception. The Executive Director for place, Lisa Dodd-Mayne said:
“2025 is a special milestone for North Yorkshire Sport as they celebrate 25 years of operations. What they’ve achieved in that time, in creating an active county, is inspiring. We look forward to what we can achieve next, together.”
We were also delighted to reveal that North Yorkshire Sport has been entrusted by the York & North Yorkshire Combined Authority to manage a specific Movement, Activity and Sport investment programme, supporting capital development and targeted activity to engage underrepresented groups in sport and movement. This funding will see just over £2M distributed by North Yorkshire Sport and is both a vote of confidence and a crucial enabler for the next phase of our collective impact.
The energy in the room was unmistakable — but what matters now is turning momentum into momentum that lasts. To that end, we issued a call to action to all attendees (and beyond):
- Be advocates and role models — wherever you are, talk about being active, lead by example, and bring others into the conversation.
- Have five conversations — follow up with people you met, share insights in your teams, spark joint ideas.
- Identify the barriers and enablers — take small steps to reduce the barriers that stop people being active and amplify the enablers, within your organisation, your family, your friendship group or wherever you can be a catalyst for change.
We believe the event is a catalyst, not a conclusion. The injection of funding is an important resource. However, lasting change depends on how we lean into partnership, humility, and systems thinking. The real work now begins – to embed equity in physical activity, break down silos, and ensure opportunity is shared.
