DCCT Annual Report 2023

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USING THE POWER OF DERBY COUNTY FOOTBALL CLUB TO IMPROVE LIVES AND COMMUNITIES THROUGH SPORT, PHYSICAL ACTIVITY, HEALTH AND EDUCATION Our MISSION

Contents 04 Welcome 06 Staff chart 08 A year in review 10 Supporting good health and wellbeing 12 SCHOOLS And coaching 13 Health 14 DEVELOPING MORE ACTIVE COMMUNITIES 16 Education 17 Inclusion 18 Optimising life chances 20 Events and fundraising 21 Core 22 Building community pride 24 Trust partners 26 A final word 3

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WELCOME

Stephen Pearce

CEO – Derby County Football Club Trustee – Derby County Community Trust

Welcome to 2023’s Annual Report, where we reflect on another year of development, outreach and progress.

We’ve continued to use the power of Derby County Football Club to improve lives and communities, through our key delivery strands of physical activity, sport, health and education.

The past 12 months have seen new programmes brought to life, long-standing projects maintained, and most importantly, over 30,000 participants engaged through a plethora of activity. From helping two-year-olds to take part in their first ever football sessions to supporting those living in residential homes, our staff remain caring in their approach, committed to creating meaningful experiences for all who we work with.

As the cost of living continues to impact our communities, we’ve provided important services to support families and individuals.

Harrison’s Hub has become a focal part of our delivery, with the stadium-based hub offering weekly sessions and meals, working collaboratively with partners from the local business community to sustain activities.

Generating more funds to strengthen and widen our delivery has been a key focus this year, with new events launched and initiatives trialled to increase our fundraising capacity.

A highlight included our first Black and White Ball this summer, where we were able to raise an incredible £26,000 for our projects.

The board commitment to ‘innovation’ funding has been used to create and drive new projects, including circulating packs for participants to break their fast with at Ramadan, supporting those living with Long Covid, women experiencing the menopause, continuing services for young people struggling with their mental health and so much more.

Our staff’s commitment to remain valued by our communities has led to these new projects being developed to fill important gaps in existing provision across the county.

The Community Trust is a huge part of Derby County and we are working more closely than ever as a fully integrated unit – the launch of this year’s Female Talent Pathway in response to the closing of FA talent centres has been testament to that, with staff from across the Trust, Club and Women’s teams working together to create opportunity for young players across the region to effectively fulfil their potential.

As a football club, we launched our own new set of core values earlier this year to recognise the many facets of our club – one being ‘we are the heartbeat of our community’ – a sentiment we hope this report embodies.

We truly take pride in our work, and hope you are inspired by the stories and projects that we have delivered across 2023.

“The Community Trust is a huge part of Derby County and we are working more closely than ever as a fully integrated unit” 04

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Simon carnall

Head of Community

AMY GREVESON

Finance Manager

Kully Grewal-Pollard Safeguarding and Compliance Manager

carly burns

paul newman

Community Manager

pete collins

Lisa anderson

Business Development Manager

HR Manager

emma

Events a Ma

Josh wing

amelia jones

Assistant Management Accountant

Megan PATRICK

Head of Marketing

Marketing and Communications Officer

EDI Lead

sarah AUSTIN

Gurjit Basi

Community Business Administrator

Marketing Officer (Graphic Design)

Sharon dale

Health Manager

arwen green

adam rowley

Active Schools Manager

Health Team Leader

ben asQUITH

christian parkinson

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Sara Adcock

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Physical Activity and Health Officer

charlie poole

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Luke Wilkinson

Health Team Leader

jess needham

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Denise Crouch

Cancer Specialist Lead

Adam woolley

Macmillan Quality Wellbeing Project Officer

jon fairbrother

lee fearnley

Physical Activity and Health Officer

matt

Health T

Morgan

Physical Healt

keith findlay

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Denise austin

Jennifer bright

claire clark

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Hannah Stanier

Health Team Leader

Female Project Officer

LUCAS CARTER

lauren finlay

Physical Activity and Health Support Officer

Physical Activity and Health Officer

chelsea moore

Physical Activity and Health Officer

Kieron wicks

Education and Employability Manager

Bev Crighton

Employability Lead

Jacob straw

Higher Education Lead Mentor

Gemma Barrowcliff

0 6 Education & Employability Administrator

michael noon

Football and Education Lead

gareth holmes Education Lead

KIM BIRD Teaching and Learning Lead

Sophie Tudor

Female Football Lead

ian duc

Sports

Jame

Education Support

Education Support

Lee Cranstone

Sports

Ryan Baldwin

shannon purdy

Sports

Thomas Hodges

Education Support

Education Support

Lucy

Richard Mansfield

Schools and Coaching Manager

a pilgrim

and Projects anager

Jack southwart

Sam Howard

ED Garnett

Physical Education and Schools Lead

Schools Coaching Lead

ALEX GREENHALGH

Elliott Dawson

Dani Gomez

austin tysall Lead Coach

Community Coach

danny sadler

jack repton

dylan parfinowski

liam sudbury

james hague

School Games Officer

School Sport Activator

fred inasi

Community Coach

Apprentice Community Coach

Lead Coach

ellie marshall

paddy reston Lead Coach

Apprentice Community Coach

musonda mulenga

Sessions delivery supported by casual coaches

Team Leader Lead Coach

n Stanley

Activity and th Officer

Community Administrator

Community Coach

Lead Coach

t deacon

nazia parveen

Callum taylor

Lead Coach

Apprentice Community Coach

Community Coaching Lead

tommy booth Lead Coach

Gavin Lewis

Inclusion Development Manager

Shannon parkes Disability Officer

ckmanton

s Lecturer

es Culf

s Lecturer

Bristow

s Lecturer

THANK YOU

David goulding

Inclusion Team Leader

Sessions delivery supported by casual coaches

An extended thank you to all of our casual staff, coaches and volunteers, without whom we couldn’t have delivered all of our diverse and wide-reaching projects and programmes.

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JANUARY COMMUNITY MEALS At the start of the year we officially began our weekly Community Meals. Across 2023, we’ve served up over 1,500 meals to members of the community, with the help of volunteers and local businesses.

February RAMBOTS We launched our ‘Rambots’ as part of our Premier League Primary Stars programme – Sphero BOLT robots which are designed to teach coding to children – sponsored by Lubrizol to widen our STEM offer.

MARCH DERBY 10K Our flagship event returned! We welcomed over 3,000 runners to the streets of Derby once again to generate important funds for our projects.

APRIL FOOTBALL AND EDUCATION LEAGUE WINS We finished our campaign on a high, with two of our teams winning their respective leagues and being invited to the Play-Off finals at Wembley to celebrate!

MAY FEMALE TALENT PATHWAYS TRIALS We launched our brand new Female Talent Pathway in partnership with Derby County Women, and saw a staggering 750+ triallists across a two-week period at Moor Farm.

JUNE DS ACTIVE AT St George’s Park Our DS Active team won a national ‘Just Play’ FA competition and took part in a VIP experience day at St George’s Park! They helped to present the FA Disability Cups and take part in various activities.

JULY Black and White Fundraising Ball We held our first ever Black and White Fundraising Ball at Clowes’ Developments HQ in Ednaston, Ashbourne. The event raised an incredible £26,000 for our projects through activities and an auction.

AUGUST Menopause Matters National Finalist Our Menopause Matters project was shortlisted for a national ‘Menopause Friendly Employer’ award in its very first year of delivery.

We were nominated for the ‘Most Supportive Partner’ accolade.

SEPTEMBER ANNUAL AWARDS Our own Annual Awards returned to Pride Park Stadium, where we recognised participants, organisations, programmes and staff members who have had a standout year.

OCTOBER Rams Family Support Our popular sessions returned for October half term, with a special activity for some of our participants, who were treated to a stadium tour and meal served up by first-team players.

NOVEMBER EFL Week of Action Derby County Head Coach Paul Warne and Assistant Coach Richie Barker visited our Female Talent Pathway training session as part of the EFL Week of Action.

DECEMBER Reverse Advent Calendar We joined forces with the Derby Food 4 Thought Alliance once more to drum up support for their festive campaign. We collected donations across two days, equating to over 200 full food parcels.

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SUPPORTING GOOD HEALTH AND WELLBEING As a pillar of our mission to improve lives and communities, supporting good health and wellbeing remains of paramount importance to our delivery.

In 2023 we began a project at the very start of our participants’ age range – with youngsters from aged two joining our Rammie’s Little Dribblers sessions. Extending the age range of our project delivery means we’re working across a wider demographic than ever before, with around 100 years spanning our youngest footballers at aged two, right up to our work within care homes, palliative care and dementia support.

The commitment to support good health and wellbeing spans this huge timeframe. From helping two-year-olds to take their first kicks, to engaging the elderly in social activity, we continue to diversify our programmes to ensure we are providing opportunity for all.

Our work within the younger age groups continues throughout childhood for many participants. We provide extra-curricular activity to thousands of primary-aged children, through our ever-popular After School Clubs, Weekend Club and Holiday Coaching, ensuring that they have the opportunity to partake in activity without the necessary commitment and confidence of joining a recognised ‘team’ – which is often a barrier to participation.

For children who do want to experience a more competitive environment, our long-standing Talent Identification Programme (TIPs) continues to go from strength to strength across three Derbyshire venues, forging stronger links with the Derby County Academy this year to ensure local talent is nurtured.

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Support for children spans across into our Health team too. Our Live IT programme saw vast expansion in 2022 which has continued across the past year. Taking a holistic approach to physical and social activity, it supports 5-17 year olds whose BMI is on the 85th centile or above to improve their lifestyles in a balanced, proactive manner.

Various sessions are provided to children, young adults and their families to reduce the risk of many health inequalities and ensure wider understanding of good health and wellbeing. This year, we introduced a strand of oral health messaging into the project, which aims to bring more awareness to the impact of diet and the importance of oral hygiene from a young age.

Sessions have a clear focus on mental and social wellbeing too, with the project working more closely than ever with our Winning Minds team, who aim to support the emotional needs of participants aged 11-17.

The programme continues to provide important support around key milestones, including the transition to secondary school, and offering targeted community hubs for individuals in need of further help.

Our Health team continue to deliver outstanding projects in order to support good health and wellbeing.

Moving through the age range of our delivery, we continue to provide activity for those struggling with various health inequalities.

Team Talk remains our flagship male mental health programme, but in 2023 diversified further to operate Dad’s Space sessions. Working with local charity Connected Perinatal Support, we offer bespoke sessions for dads or dads-to-be, and have broadened our reach by recently starting a podcast for this demographic – hosted by ex-Rams captain Shaun Barker.

Our Primary Care Network commissioned work also expanded across 2023, with a focused Pain Management project coming into place, alongside our existing offer of supporting patients to take part in physical activity whilst living with long-term conditions. Cardiac Rehab is another newly commissioned part of this offer, and the inaugural year of the project has supported over 100 participants following a cardiac event to exercise safely. Feedback from the project continues to impress and has led to investment in our model of delivery.

Supporting participants through and after significant medical treatment is not new to us, with our cancer rehabilitation project entering its seventh year of delivery, and our Active Recovery staff have proudly supported over 200 people moving through their recovery journey in 2023.

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SCHOOLS AFFILIATION Across the 2022-2023 academic year, 63 primary schools and 6 special schools accessed our Core Affiliation offer, allowing access to a range of opportunities for pupils, support for staff and guidance for the wider school.

Aiming to raise the profile of Physical Education, physical activity and school sport within schools’ agendas, the team worked to engage and inspire school staff alongside engaging pupils within schools in a variety of sports, activities and lessons.

SCHOOLS AND COACHING

This year, we have run a total of 15 workshops in a range of topics, with 100% of teachers reporting that they felt more confident and that they can better inspire and engage their class in PE. We have seen a huge increase in engagement within School Games and events this year, with 168 intra and inter competitions, festivals and tournaments taking place and an incredible 12,470 pupils taking part throughout the year – 29% more than in 2022.

These opportunities have given me the foundations and knowledge to deliver engaging PE sessions where all pupils can be involved at all abilities. It has really challenged, supported, guided and improved the quality of PE within the school and my confidence and enthusiasm for the subject has grown too!”

Maddie Binding, PE Coordinator from Castleward Spencer Academy

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We have a proven track record in engaging individuals across Derbyshire to reduce health inequalities and promote healthier lifestyles. This includes underrepresented groups and those living in areas of deprivation, where many people often fail to engage in lifestyle services.

Subsequently, additional launch events were delivered on a monthly basis which saw over 600 women accessing these events across the year. Specialist sessions have seen presentations from medical professionals, cosmetic brands and skincare specialists, HR practitioners and menopause researchers.

An area identified in late 2022 was around support for women going through the menopause.

We also widened our offer by offering bespoke sessions for women going through the menopause after cancer treatment, a ‘Pie and a Pint’ session for men to gain a better understanding and more recently we’ve grown our reach into the local

The Menopause Matters programme was launched in November 2022 at Harrison’s Hub, which was fully booked within 48 hours.

HEALTH

business communities, working with organisations to raise awareness and apply our unique programme into their workplaces.

Our work was recognised nationally at the Menopause Friendly awards, and at our own Awards this September, where the project won the Programme of the Year accolade.

Menopause Matters 13

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DEVELOPING MORE ACTIVE COMMUNITIES As a key part of our mission statement, improving the communities in which our participants live is vital to what we do as a charity. By developing a more active culture, we create sustainability and longevity within our work.

Schools are a huge part of our communities, and our projects across the board work tirelessly to engage pupils, teachers and families in activities to boost physical activity and social wellbeing.

We deliver a vast range of events for pupils across primary and secondary age groups throughout the academic year. In the 2022-23 academic year, we introduced a tripartite system, where events fall under ‘Achieve’, ‘Inspire’ or ‘PLUS’, to ensure that we are providing a positive experience of competition for all pupils, helping to foster enjoyment of physical activity in the right way for different children.

Achieve events aim to provide a traditional, competitive atmosphere for students to achieve their athletic potential and challenge themselves against others. Inspire events are about including all pupils, regardless of ability, at a level where the focus is on fun and enjoyment, not results.

PLUS events adapt activities to ensure pupils with additional needs can access a range of sport and activity without being at a disadvantage.

The successful implementation of this new ‘grading’ system led to a fourth strand launching in September 2023. ‘Connect’ events support young people who struggle to interact with other students to build confidence, self-esteem and forge new relationships with their peers. Across the events calendar, we worked with an incredible 12,000+ pupils this

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year, to develop a more active school community across the city.

Within specific schools, our Active Schools project has supported almost 5,000 primary-aged children to appreciate the importance of physical activity in a holistic manner and offering targeted interventions for pupils who are behind in key milestones. This year, our work within the Early Years setting has expanded, with a focus on beginning healthy lifestyle education from a young age to embed better understanding of active lifestyles.

We also undertake significant work with school staff to ensure that physical activity can be built into the school day. Across our projects, we supported over 500 teachers to gain formal sports qualifications, increase their knowledge of teaching PE and share good practice with peers at several networking events.

Along with the school-based projects we offer, within the wider community we ensure we provide activity for all through our Disability offer. This year, we’ve worked with 172 participants from age 5 upwards through our impairment specific and pan-disability sessions, to make sure that football is a sport for all. Highlights of the year include a Down’s Syndrome Active trip to St George’s Park, as winners of a national competition, and a visit from ITV to our Cerebral Palsy and pan-disability Saturday morning sessions.

In our adult groups, we have also supported the development of several communities, using physical activity to improve and inspire. Our Wellbeing for All project, delivered through Macmillan Cancer Support funding, continues to work with different ethnic minority groups to increase awareness of cancer signs and symptoms and highlight the importance of leading a healthy lifestyle. As a result of our ongoing work, we were invited to Macmillan’s national conference to discuss our delivery model.

Two specific communities were outlined by our staff towards the end of 2022 as needing additional support due to lack of existing provision. The focuses were on people living with Long Covid, and women of menopausal and peri-menopausal age. Funding to develop projects was granted through our internal Innovation funding, and the projects have gone on to support almost 1,000 participants in 2023.

We’ve also been able to launch a second allotment this year. We now have ‘The Dug Out’ plots at two local sites, extending our green offer through support from the Severn Trent Community Fund. The plots invite participants of all ages to enjoy being outside and active, and food grown at the sites is distributed to families, schools and the local food bank network.

“IT IS THIS SPIRIT, THIS POWER OF FOOTBALL, THIS LOVE FOR OUR CLUB WHICH WE LEVERAGE TO ALLOW US TO DO OUR WORK” (PLACEHOLDER)

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Female Football We have delivered female focused football sessions for many years, with the Regional Talent Centre making up a key strand of our delivery over the past decade. However, this summer, existing funding to the scheme was due to end, so 2023 has seen an overhaul to how we’ve traditionally ran the pathway.

Alongside the integration of the Derby County Women’s first team into the main club this summer, we also took the decision to merge the existing Derby County Women’s youth setup with our own Regional Talent Centre. This has created the new

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Female Talent Pathway, which is made up of nine squads from under 10 to under 20 level, with the ultimate aim of creating players who will join the first team.

Underpinning the talent pathway are our Emerging Talent Centres. Aiming to attract footballers aged 8 to 16, the ETC is delivered in 15-week blocks with trials taking place every 15 weeks for new players to join. Training now takes place across three venues across the county, with players taking part in training, events, speakers, trips and the chance to play many other teams.

Education

The growth of female football across the board has been truly proven across our projects this year, and we’re thrilled to be helping the next generation of stars to flourish.

The Rams Family Support programme offers sessions during half terms to children in receipt of benefits-based free school meals. Over the past year 612 children and young people have attended sessions where they have accessed physical activity, health education and a nutritious meal during every school holiday.

Research has shown that the school holidays can be pressure points for some families and lead to some children from low-income households being less likely to access organised out-of-school activities, more likely to experience ‘unhealthy holidays’ in terms of nutrition and physical health and more likely to experience social isolation.

INCLUSION

The programme has helped to tackle these issues by encouraging children to eat healthily and be active and take part in engaging and enriching activities in a safe environment.

In addition to the holiday activities, the overarching Rams Family Support project has delivered meals, offered stadium tours, distributed food hampers, created Ramadan specific Iftar packs, delivered workshops on topics including oral health, wellbeing, healthy eating and anti-racism, and much more.

“The Rams Family Support project has helped us to make family meals together with the hamper provided, and the sessions themselves helped my son to make friends and play sports - there are great activities and as I work during the holidays it really helps us out.”

Parent

Ran through funding from our trustees, it epitomises the need for us to continue to raise funds, to ensure the longevity of such programmes, which make a tangible difference in our communities.

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OPTIMISING LIFE CHANCES Though we will always aim to improve the lives and communities of all, we are acutely aware that participants who live within lower socio-economic areas or fall within other areas of disadvantage often face further barriers than their more affluent peers.

A range of our programmes aim to directly address these inequalities, and ensure that we provide a level playing field.

Within the Education sector, we are able to leverage the unique appeal of football to encourage reluctant learners to realise their potential.

This is a key focus of our Premier League Primary Stars project, which alongside large-scale activations of important initiatives – including topics of anti-racism, LGBTQ+ awareness, anti-bullying and much more – delivers targeted curriculum activity to support groups of children who are identified by their teachers.

By using football as a tool for learning, we deliver a range of projects around the key subjects of Literacy, Maths, and PSHE to encourage pupils to engage. The addition of a STEM strand to the project in 2023 with our ‘Rambots’ programme has introduced pupils to computing and coding, skills which will become ever-more important to their later careers. Investment from Lubrizol, who have a base local to Derby, allowed this project to materialise, and their future involvement will target delivery in schools in areas of deprivation to ensure these opportunities are available for all.

Our Education department use a similar model of engagement to attract learners at post-16 and

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degree level. By partnering with a range of education venues across the county, we are now supporting 300 learners to optimise their life chances, through offering a comprehensive catalogue of academic options,meaning we have suitable courses for all.

Where previously learners may have been reluctant to continue their studies, we shape our delivery to include emphasis on training and playing competitive football, and the partnership of sport with learning continues to prove successful, as we welcomed our largest cohort of students to date in September 2023, with plans for at least two more partner venues next academic year.

Our Inclusion team continue on the work we deliver for secondary aged pupils. Our Premier League Inspires project has continued to grow this year, empowering participants to develop personal, social, employability and life skills, through group sessions, mentoring, workshops and social action. We have provided mentoring support to almost 200 pupils identified as being at risk of exclusion or studying within pupil referral. This has formed the bedrock of our Youth Voice work too, where we empower youngsters to make a real difference in their communities.

A long-standing cornerstone of our Inclusion delivery, our Premier

League Kicks programme continues to remove barriers of cost and travel to participation, staging free activity sessions on a daily basis in areas of deprivation across Derby. Operating on a ‘turn up and play’ basis in local parks and community centres, we’ve engaged almost 1,000 8-19 year old this year, who otherwise may not have had the chance to take part in activity in a safe environment.

We truly believe in supporting participants through difficult life events in order to positively impact their future. Our Twinning Project works with HM Prison Sudbury to offer prisoners the chance to improve their mental and physical health, wellbeing and obtain a qualification which will help improve their life chances and gain employment on release. We’re proud to have worked with 42 prisoners this year as part of the national initiative.

Another project that exemplifies this approach is our longest-running Health programme. Active Choices works with participants who are in recovery from alcohol and substance misuse, providing opportunities to take part in physical activity, gain volunteering experience and shape a timetable to support their abstinence.

The service continues to be an invaluable resource to clients in the city and county with over 200 people utilising this year to support their abstinence.

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BLACK AND WHITE BALL This summer, we hosted our first ever Black and White Ball, held exclusively in the grounds of Clowes’ Developments Ednaston base.

The event welcomed over 200 guests from a wide range of businesses and sectors who pledged their support to the charitable arm of the football club.

The evening saw guests learn about various programmes that the Community Trust offer, from the Rams Family Fund which was kickstarted by fans in early 2022 to current participants’ efforts to better their mental and physical health.

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Ex-Derby County captains Michael Johnson and Shaun Barker joined the occasion to speak about their personal involvement with the charity’s projects.

Following a range of fundraising activities throughout the evening, the final figure raised on the evening was an amazing £26,000.

The Black and White Ball will become an annual fixture in our charity calendar, where we will continue to raise vital funds to support many of our projects.

Events AND FUNDRAISING

“We are totally blown away with the success of the evening. We know we work alongside some incredible businesses locally, and the standard of the prizes donated already demonstrated that, but the turnout and generosity shown on the evening outweighed our highest expectations.”

Simon Carnall, Head of Community

Since opening the doors at Harrison’s Hub in late 2022, a huge driving force behind having a community venue was to provide a warn and welcome space to participants against the backdrop of the cost of living crisis Our weekly Community Meals have become an integral part of the Hub’s offer. Initially planned to run from January to March 2023, we were able to extend them into May thanks to funds raised through the 1884 Wall at Pride Park Stadium, before taking a summer break.

Meal resumed in September 2023 and across that timeframe we have

CORE

distributed over 1,500 meals, working alongside the chefs at Pride Park Stadium who cook up tasty, nutritional plates each week.

Every week, a different department leads the meal, meaning we’re working with a wide range of community and participant groups.

We also have regular visitors who benefit not only from a hot, nourishing meal, but also the ‘community shop’ style stand we operate, where they are welcome to take home tinned and dried goods, along with toiletries and any other useful goods.

“HAVING THE MEALS HAS REALLY HELPED ME IN A DIFFICULT TIME FINANCIALLY. IT IS ALSO REALLY NICE TO HAVE A MEAL COOKED FOR ME OCCASIONALLY AS I AM A SINGLE PARENT.” Participant

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BUILDING COMMUNITY PRIDE The ultimate aim of our work is to create communities that people are proud of and engaged in, through directly participating in activity that we provide and through the legacy of our projects.

Part of achieving this objective comes from us identifying areas of need within our communities, and developing provision which plugs gaps in services.

A community project which led directly to us filling one such gap was the Holiday Activity and Food sessions that our Schools and Coaching and Inclusion run through government funding. These sessions are available to children who are in receipt of benefits-based free school meals, and run in the longer holidays: Easter, Summer and Christmas. While the funding is gratefully received, we felt a distinct gap in the shorter half term breaks, so created the Rams Family Support project in late 2022, which provides the same level of support throughout all holidays.

Another hugely important community asset which depends on fundraising is our Sensory Room. Based within Pride Park Stadium, it aims to support children and young people with additional sensory needs to experience a matchday, something that they would not be able to do without the facility. This year we were thrilled to open a second Sensory Room, thanks to continued support from the Shaun Barker Foundation, who have purchased the equipment for both rooms, and local firm Chasetown Civil Engineering who have covered the running costs of the second box. This now means that over a 23-game season, we can help a minimum of 46 families.

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Our matchday experiences continued with our Rammie’s Special Guest activity, which allows youngsters to take part in an unforgettable day out. Meeting pre-game, they get to have a kickabout on the pitch with Rammie, meet players, follow the teams out of the tunnel and take a half-time penalty. 112 children took part across 2023, making countless memories.

The opening of Harrison’s Hub has massively strengthened our presence at Pride Park. Having a base within the stadium has allowed us to grow our projects and build a real sense of community pride. It has become the home of many regular activities: Team Talk, Menopause Matters, Extra Time Hub, Knit and Natter, Dad’s Space and many more. It has also allowed us to develop two new vital initiatives: Communi-Tea and Community Meals.

A further part of the Rams Family Support project, the respective sessions run weekly, and invite participants in to get a hot meal and drink in a warm and welcoming space. Communi-tea opens its doors in an afternoon with soup, rolls, hot drinks and conversation readily available. Community Meals take place each Thursday, and across 2023, we are proud to have dished up over 1,500 dinners, working hand-in-hand with other charity and organisations to ensure we’re reaching those in need throughout the ongoing cost of living crisis.

Also taking place at the home of the Rams, our flagship Derby 10K returned in March, with 3,313 runners taking part in our biggest fundraiser – generating vital income for our charity whilst providing a platform for individuals to increase their own health and wellbeing.

Overseas, our Rams in Kenya reached a record milestone with a record number of volunteers. The tenth trip took place in May 2023, with 80 volunteers making the journey to the slum of Nakuru to work in five partner schools. Beginning in 2012 as a fledging idea with 12 volunteers, the project has grown to be the largest of its kind within the footballing world, and not only contributes to the communities of Nakuru, but positively impacts delivery at home too, with a proportion of all funds raised used locally to support projects – this year this included the running costs of Harrison’s Hub, allowing all the above activity to continue running.

We are justly proud of all the communities we work with and serve, and throughout 2023 we have continued to diversify those groups to help as many people as possible.

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TRUST PARTNERS

IMPROVING Lives IN DERBY 24

PARTNERS A huge thank you to our highly valued partners for all their contributions during 2023. We look forward to continuing our collaborative work in the future.

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A FINAL WORD As we look back on the work delivered this year, we are as ever, truly proud of our participants, staff and projects. This year has seen us surpass £3.5 million of investment into our communities, our highest ever total, allowing us to help more people than ever before.

We’ve really put emphasis on the organic creation of projects over the past 12 months, using financial backing from our board of trustees to bring new ideas to life, to continue to improve lives and communities. We’ll continue this ethos into the new year, with new programmes already on the horizon – including extending our support for the LGBTQ+ community, widening our work alongside local healthcare agencies, and bringing more opportunities to young people.

Our capacity to generate more of our own funds to propel these projects remains a high priority, and as we approach the end of the year we’ve kickstarted an initiative to increase our regular donors, building on work undertaken across the year to fundraise through matchday activations, hosting our first fundraising ball and staging a number of challenge events.

We’d like to extend our thanks to our many funding, corporate and community partners that make our work possible, and to every single participant who has engaged with us across this year.

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Simon Carnall Head of Community

Our values Caring in our approach Collaborative in our partnerships Creating meaningful experiences Effectively fulfilling potential Taking pride of our work Valued by our communitY 27

REGISTERED CHARITY NUMBER: 1123520