Latest News The Trust's August 2024 Newsletter 30th August 2024 Farewell from Nigel Purse, Chair of Trustees As I watched the stunning opening ceremony of the Paris Paralympiad the parade of 4,400 athletes down the Champs Elysees reminded me that it was a continuum of something that began in 1948 at Stoke Mandeville with an archery demonstration by 16 patients of Sir Ludwig Guttmann. The care of such heritage is at once a privilege and an obligation and it has been my great good fortune to have shared in that experience. In truth, in the last six years all I did was call to order some board meetings and make some speeches. It was the wonderful effort of many others in that time which is the real reason for the success of the NPHT and for the diligent curation of Guttmann's magnificent heritage in the field of disability sport. Under the outstanding leadership of Vicky the staff and volunteers, with steadfast support from the Trustees and the Honorary Presidents (and not a few Paralympians along the way), are those whose hard work and passion have made the NPHT what it is: an amazing charity which is far outperforming even my wildest dreams of what I thought we might do. Lucky I was to have been a spectator at such a terrific show. I thank everyone for their magnificent contribution over the last six years and wish you all well in the NPHT's endeavours in the future. 'Exciting Times' from Vicky Hope-Walker, CEO The last three months have flown by with lots of exciting activity including 3 major launches; the Global Virtual Museum, the Digital Archive Catalogue, giving access to over 30,000 items in partnership with Bucks Archive and ‘The Story of the Games’ an exhibition currently on display in London, in partnership with the Crown Estate. Our trainees, Adam, Ben, Simon and Thomas celebrated their first birthday with us in July. We are really proud of them and it is incredible how much their skills have grown over twelve months. They played a major role in the launch of the Global Virtual Museum, each presenting a different space. This is a major step forward for the Trust in becoming seamlessly inclusive and they are now busy planning the next year with Fiona our Learning Manager. In June we said goodbye to Tracey Mallett and welcomed Ben Banyard-Phelps in a new role as our Operations Officer. Ben is a great organiser and has made improvements in many areas already. We also welcomed Emily Toettcher as our Head of Programmes. At Board level, we're saying a sad but fond farewell to Nigel Purse, after 6 years as our Chair of Trustees, and to Rachel Maguire, Chair of the Finance and Development Committee. Both have been amazingly hands-on and supportive Trustees, guiding us towards being a more sustainable, secure organisation. They'll be greatly missed but they leave us in good hands not only with our existing Trustees but with the appointment of the new Chair of Trustees, Philip Dart, and Chair of Finance and Development, Ian Jenkins. I'm delighted to welcome them both. Finally we are delighted to let you know that we have been invited to sit on the Sector Advisory Board for All-In a UK-wider access scheme committed to improving committee to improving the experience of D/deaf, disabled, and neurodivergent people when involved with the cultural sector. A Spotlight On ... The Launch of the Global Virtual Museum and Collections Catalogue On 3rd July we celebrated the launch of our Global Virtual Museum, ensuring that our curated collections, and items from our partner museums, can be accessed digitally from anywhere in the world. We then enjoyed the successful launch of our online access catalogue, in partnership with Buckinghamshire Archives, making our collections searchable and accessible globally. We celebrated the exciting ways that they are already being used through the launch of the NPHT Heritage Trail App! All of this is in line with our aim to become ‘Seamlessly Inclusive’ by 2028, ensuring that our collections are accessible worldwide in new, exciting and interactive ways. If you haven’t already, we encourage you to visit the Global Virtual Museum, check out the collections catalogue and download the app. We’d love your feedback! We are still on the hunt for a solution to enable screen readers to work on the virtual gallery platform giving proper access for people with sight loss. If you know of anyone who can help please tell them to get in touch. Visit the Global Virtual Museum Explore the Collections Catalogue Download the Heritage Trail App What's On... 'The Story of the Games' Exhibition, London - until 13th Sept This Summer, we opened our temporary exhibition 'The Story of the Games' at St. James's Market Pavilion in central London, exploring some of the most pivotal moments in the history of the Paralympic Movement, from its Stoke Mandeville beginnings, through London 2012 and beyond. This free exhibition remains in place until 3rd November, so there's still plenty of time to pay us a visit. You can even take a break and watch the Paralympics live on the big screen. We look forward to hearing your thoughts and takeaways from the display via social media using #StoryOfTheGames Read more about 'The Story of the Games' here Join us at the following events: 7th September, Aylesbury Town Council As part of these Heritage Open Weekend celebrations, our pop-up exhibition banners, showcasing posters from the Paralympic Games, will be on display in Aylesbury Town Council Offices on Church Street in Aylesbury. 25th September, Tour of our Heritage Centre, 10:30-11:30am The Chiltern Society have arranged a private tour of our Heritage Centre. You can book your place through the Chiltern Society website here. 5-6th October, Stoke Mandeville Stadium Open Day Weekend We are excited to support an exciting open weekend at Stoke Mandeville. You’ll be able to take part in a boccia session and try out blind football, as well as some arts and crafts fun and games. You’ll also have the chance to interact with our handling collection made up of mascots, torches, medals and more! 6th December, Meet the Paralympian Save the date and watch this space as we will soon announce the next speaker in our Meet the Paralympian event series. We will once again be offering two sessions, one for schools and home educated children and another lunchtime session for adults and teenagers. Visit our website for updates! Learning & Engagement Paralympic Heritage Sports Day Resource Fiona has been busy putting together an adaptable Paralympic-inspired Sports Day resource which is perfect for schools, youth clubs and to use at home. It includes sports challenges as well as arts and crafts activities. It also includes adaptations to ensure that this is an activity that everyone can be part of. You can find this and lots of other Paralympic inspired resources here. You can go straight to the Sports Day resource directly via the button below: Download your Paralympic Heritage Sports Day Resource Disability Sport Conference Vicky and Sam attended the Disability Sport Conference at Coventry University in June, organised by Paralympic historian Ian Brittain. Here, Vicky delivered a keynote presentation about the NPHT’s work, focusing on the trainee and work placement programmes. Sam delivered a presentation about his PhD topic, the history of sport wheelchair technology, as well as sharing the Paralympic Heritage Trail app and speaking on the accessibility of digital heritage products with Loughborough University's Dr Verity Postlethwaite. Corporate News DICE Club and the Disability Confident Scheme There's still time to sign up to the Disability Confident Scheme with Bucks Business First. The first 24 businesses to do so have the opportunity to apply for a free year’s membership of DICE Club - the club which welcomes businesses which share the Paralympic values of determination, equality, inspiration and courage. We have a shared objective to make Bucks businesses more welcoming for disabled people and between us, we can offer the support to help them achieve this. The offer is valid until 24 companies have signed up or by September 8th 2024 – the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games! We're pleased to announce that 4 businesses have so far taken up this opportunity and have become the newest members of the DICE Club. They are Arrow Planning, Adroit Services, Dux Advisory and Gartec Ltd.Gartec Lifts Employees at Gartec Lifts in Aylesbury began their fundraising for NPHT with a stand at their staff summer social. They raised £342 through asking people to donate to have their photo taken with a Paralympic torch. Simple yet effective! Learning with LEXI NPHT are delighted to announce a new partnership with LEXI - the innovative graphics system that explains the Paralympic classification system for competing athletes, using an intuitively coloured set of icons. With the Paralympics underway, it's the perfect time for NPHT to start to use the LEXI system to provide added value to our collection content and enable our website visitors to improve their Paralympics viewing experience. We intend to add in LEXI graphics and icons to our educational resources too. You can read more about this partnership here. Alex Davis - A Triathlon in all 78 UK Cities Alex, the Sales Director at Equate Group, one of our DICE Club members, is still making his way around the country one triathlon at a time, hoping to raise £5,000 for the NPHT. This month has seen him conquer Sheffield, Wolverhampton, Bath and Salisbury. He's ticked off an amazing 20 cities so far, which is a phenomenal achievement already but he's absolutely determined to reach every city in the UK and we are behind him every step, spin and stroke of the way! It’s not quite the last leg yet, but Alex has been travelling with a special item from our collection, Adam Hills’ golden leg, so make sure you follow us on social media to see it for yourselves! To donate and help Alex to reach his target, check out his Just Giving Page. Collections news It’s not just Alex Davis who’s been travelling the country, we’ve had a number of items out on loan. We had London 2012 Paralympic opening ceremony outfits at Blandford Museum as part of their ‘History of Sportswear’ exhibition, as well as items related to Dr Guttmann on display at the Migration Museum in South East London. We're always grateful for the opportunity to share our collections with new audiences. With the launch of Buckinghamshire Archives’ Disability Sport portal on August 14th, work on the WheelPower Collection is almost finished. Thanks to our amazing box-listing volunteers, we have listed around 11,000 items over the last 3 years. Now, we will be entering a new phase of work, tackling the collection of WheelPower administrator Jean Stone MBE, the objects from the WheelPower archive and more… watch this space! A huge thank you to those who have made generous donations in the last quarter, including Dame Tracey Crouch for the large framed Union flag signed by ParalympicsGB gold medallists from the London 2012 Paralympic Games. Also to Eric Holmgren, a Paralympic torch-bearer at the Atlanta Games in 1996 for two historic pin badges, and to weightlifting coach Glyn Hibbert for his bundle of exciting memorabilia. Thank you We once again express our gratitude to our volunteers, partner schools, museums and organisations, who have not only helped us with the launch of the Global Virtual Museum but the launch of our collections and our ongoing outreach work. Over the last quarter, our volunteers contributed over 300 hours in various ways for the NPHT. As well as our box listers, our “Virtual Volunteers” have supported Beth with the development of our Global Virtual Museum and various other digital resources. Our events volunteers, have assisted at 20 different events in the past quarter; including several they facilitated without any NPHT staff present. Some of the highlights have been the Crown Estate's Family Fun Day, the Maccabi Youth Access Games and the Paralympic Flame Lighting. A big thank you to all of them and to all who follow what we are doing. If you would like to show your support for our ongoing work please donate. Support our ongoing work by donating here 🤗 Manage Cookie Preferences