City of Sport to become Bristol Active City

Bristol is celebrating the successes of its year as a European City of Sport
as it launches its rebranded website as a one-stop-shop for sport and physical
activity in Bristol.

The website, now known as Bristol Active City, aims to pull together
opportunities for people to take part in sport and physical activity sessions
and classes in one place to help people find an activity that’s right for
them.

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol, said:

“We’ve had a great year as European
City of Sport for 2017.

“I wanted to use this accolade as an opportunity to start a conversation
with the city about how we can make sport and physical activity more
accessible, bring more sporting events to the city and improve our sports
facilities to help more people to achieve their goals and we’ve managed to hold
some great events in the process.”

Bristol was awarded European City of Sport status for 2017 in 2016.

Since the start of the year there have been three mayoral gatherings with
organisations of all sizes to begin conversations around how the city can
improve people’s access to sport and work in partnership to provide a programme
of events throughout the year.

During the summer, hundreds of free taster sessions for sports and
activities were offered by clubs and organisations in the city as part of the
‘Are You Game?’ campaign which was open to everyone to take part in. At
the same time free sport mornings and ‘activation areas’ were organised around
large events to give people a chance to try a range of new activities.

Other highlights included Bristol children, across the city, collectively
running over 2,500km at local junior Parkruns during the council’s 2k running
challenge last November. The year finished with a national sports
conference with sports experts and professionals from around the country coming
together along with top international athletes to discuss how participation in
sport and physical activity can benefit modern society.

Bristol Active City is part of the work that has been planned to carry on
the momentum from the city’s year as a European City of Sport. The council has
recently approved a strategy to try and improve the city’s playing pitches and
is currently looking at a plan for more sports buildings around the city.

On top of this the council is also planning more events to discuss with
business leaders, local clubs and sports organisations how the city can work
together to help promote sport and improve people’s access to physical
activity.

Cllr Asher Craig, Deputy Mayor for Neighbourhoods said:

“We are taking sport
and physical activity seriously in Bristol. We know that we are not
immune from the national obesity epidemic or health inequalities that are often
based on levels of inactivity. We want to address these issues head
on.”

Marvin Rees, Mayor of Bristol said:

“Being more active can be fun and
improve our health and wellbeing at the same time, helping us to feel better
about ourselves, meet new people and lead healthier, happier lives. I’d
like to say ‘thank you’ to everyone who helped to make it a successful year and
I hope you will stay with us as we continue to change the role sport and
physical activity plays in the city.”

The Bristol Active City website was launched today. Lists of free
sport or activity sessions are available on the free activities page of the
website (www.bristolactivecity.org.uk).

Watch a video of the Mayor summing up the year on our YouTube channel.