This year's Hands Up for Sports Volunteering Conference (organised by Knight, Kavanagh & Page on behalf of Sports Volunteering North West) delivered a programme to really get under the skin of volunteering, in the region and beyond.

The Conference took place on Tuesday 28th April at Preston Grasshoppers RFC. Leading figures from the sector presented and ran workshops to provide delegates with a real and wide perspective on all aspects of volunteering.

Sport England's latest strategy recognises volunteering as a particular strength of community sport within England. It reports that c. 1.9million people volunteer in sport for at least an hour each week. (This is equivalent to a full-time workforce of over 80,000 employees).

Experts from sport, including former England rugby captain (and current Sport England NGB Relationship Manager), Phil De Glanville and former England football captain (and Radio 5 football pundit), Jimmy Armfield OBE inspired delegates with their views on how we can use 2012 as a lever for volunteering and how this dedicated sector of our community is vital to the future of sport.

Counterbalancing this heavyweight group from sport was Debbi Lander from the Arts Council Northwest. Sport is not the only sector that relies heavily on volunteers or the only one looking to benefit from 2012. Debbie shared her experience and gave delegates a privileged opportunity to look at how the ‘other half' do it.

Having both attended and arranged many industry events over the years, KKP worked hard to provide a balanced programme that is both informative and interactive. For the 10 breakout sessions, a selection of the country's leading national and international sports professionals covered specific topics; delivering new ideas, skills and knowledge, including:

• The importance of volunteering to 2012 - led by Rob Young, North West Co-ordinator for 2012 from the NWDA
• Volunteering and the Law - led by Jackie Bennetts, National Volunteer Development Officer at the RYA
• Volunteering and disability - led by Sarah Cohen, Project Manager at the English Federation for Disability Sport
• Volunteer management - the 4 ‘Rs' - led by Margaret Nolan and Angela Lewis from runningsports

The conference, which was supported by the five CSPs in the North West also included sessions covering key topics and challenges facing volunteer managers such as Step into Sport, engaging hard to reach groups and event volunteering.

Karen Tonge: SVNW chair said,

"This was a great opportunity to showcase many of the issues that we have been actively promoting and to update people on subjects that directly affect those working in, and with, the sector."

John Eady, KKP CEO feels that the Conference stands out in this year's event calendar. He said,

"It challenges professionals and volunteers with the latest thinking, first hand, on sports volunteering from a national and regional context as well as giving delegates the opportunity to learn from each other and get practical ideas to do the ‘day job' better."

For more information and to secure a place on the Hands Up for Sports Volunteering 2009 Conference, visit the website:

http://www.sportsvolunteeringnw.org/hands-up-for-sports-volunteering-conference-2009