Over the winter months Centre Spot, a social enterprise charity in Sandwell, West Midlands, invited young people aged from 6 to 16years to take part in a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to design a pair of football boots that will go on general sale, as well as benefit young people in Africa.

With 391 qualifying entries received from all over the country, the winning design came from Marple Hall School in Stockport.

Olivia Wilsons stunning design was unanimously chosen by are panel of 10 judges. Olivia received her first prize of a cheque for £250, and a signed Manchester city shirt. She will also receive £150 worth of Football Equipment for her school ana a Shoot 4 Boots t shirt. The winning design will be manufactured for general sale. The proceeds from the sale of these boots will support the reconditioning of old football boots for young people in Africa.

The reconditioning of old football boots is a key part of the Shoot for Boots for Africa project that is lasting throughout 2011. Centre Spot is organising a collection of unwanted football boots, to be sent to Africa in October 2011, as well as looking for fundraising opportunities for the project.

A team of up to fifteen volunteers will distribute the equipment in Africa as part of a series of coaching programmes. These events will be especially focused in areas where people have not had the opportunity to discover the joys of playing football.

“The competition and other fund raising activities will be benefit footballers from disadvantage circumstances both in the UK and in Africa. We are grateful to everyone who took part in the competition”.

Centre Spot CIC is pleased to announce that we have been awarded a StreetMark by Streetgames.

The StreetMark is designed to quality assure the provision of StreetGames activity. It embeds the minimum standards for quality community sport required by the Sport Unlimited programme and some of the key elements of the Department of Health World Class Commissioning Framework.

StreetMark is the Streetgames accreditation which demonstrates that organisations have a commitment to developing sport in disadvantaged communities and confirms that all the right policies and procedures for safety and good practice are in place. Importantly all StreetMark holders are members of the Streetgames national network of projects

Staff at a building contractor have been swapping their hard hats for shin pads to help youngsters in Blackheath to show boredom the boot.

Darren Tugwell for Wates Living Space said: “If children don’t have a safe place to play that’s close to their home it’s very easy for them to spend too much time in front of the TV or playing on their own”.

“We wanted to organise something that would encourage them to do something active, and that would get kids living in the same community playing and chatting together.”

Wates Living Space in partnership with Centre Spot CIC funded a free four-day football training camp for 6-12 year olds, and saw each of the 60 places filled in hours.

The camp saw the children entering various competitions including a penalty shootout, crossbar challenge, Champions League competition, and receiving awards for individual achievements including football skills and good behaviour.

Delaeo Warrican (Age), a pupil at St. Mary’s School in Oldbury said: “I really enjoyed coming to this camp because there was lots of competition and lots of new friends. The coaches were funny, and you also get to show off your skills and impress people.”

Wates Living Space is undertaking a five-year project with Sandwell Homes to upgrade social housing to the Decent Homes Standard.

Centre Spot is celebrating securing a government grant as part of a ‘learning for pleasure’ innovation spearheaded by the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS). Centre Spot is one of over 213 winning projects.

The aim of the project will be to engage young people aged 19 – 25 from disadvantaged communities from Inner City Birmingham in a series of Arts and Craft Workshops supplemented by Sports and complimented by Mentoring.

The intention is of getting the target group active, discovering, and connecting different learning experiences so that they can help to find what interests them and deepen their passion for learning.

This grant is from the £20 million Transformation Fund, launched by Government to offer funding for to innovative informal adult learning projects in England. This brings to life The Learning Revolution, a White Paper presented to Parliament in March 2009.

The projects, many spearheaded by partnerships between public, private and third sector organisations, will help improve mental health, physical well-being, active citizenship and community cohesion, as well as providing a steppingstone towards further learning, qualifications and employment for many people.