Every year the UK’s national wheelchair sport charity WheelPower hosts the Inter Spinal Unit Games at Stoke Mandeville Stadium, the birthplace of the Paralympic movement. Both newly injured people and hardworking staff come from rehabilitation units across the United Kingdom and Ireland to experience a variety of sports. Stewarts is proud to have supported and sponsored the Games for the last 21 years.
This year the sports on offer included archery, boccia, golf, tennis, athletic events, shooting, table tennis, badminton, curling and swimming. It was amazing to see the participants grow in confidence as they get to take part in a wide variety of events.
After three days of trying out new sports (and for some of the participants getting very competitive while doing so) the games were brought to a close with a celebratory dinner on the Thursday evening. Charles Edwards, Clare Salmon, Katherine Fitter and Victoria Williams proudly represented Stewarts at the dinner, with Charles and Clare having the honour of presenting some of the awards.
The award ceremony
The evening began with WheelPower’s president Rosie Vestey giving the welcome. Rosie explained that WheelPower are there to support the participants going forward into the future to use sport to stay fit and active, and she expressed hope that all the participants believe there are good times ahead.
After the dinner awards were given, beginning with the induction of two new members to the WheelPower Hall of Fame: Terry Bywater and Angie Malone MBE, well known for their incredible achievements in wheelchair basketball and curling respectively.
Terry Bywater was away training with his team in Spain and so accepted the award via video message, saying it was a very proud moment in his career in life and his message to the participants was “to go follow your dream and get involved in disability sport”.
Angie Malone MBE had come to the games with Team Glasgow and explained that the spinal unit there had brought her down to the games when she was 16 years old in 1981. She told the room how WheelPower has changed her life and she Terry’s message to “follow your dreams”.
Awards were given to the winners of the competitions across the various sports. Clare Salmon presented the awards in archery, and Charles Edwards presented the Roger Jefcoate CBE DL Trophy for team spirit and sportsmanship to Glasgow.
Rehabilitation units from Stoke Mandeville, Oswestry, Pinderfields, Llandough, Stanmore, Salisbury, Dublin, Belfast, STEPS, DMRC, Cardiff, Glasgow, Middlesbrough and Hobbs were represented at the Games. The overall winners of the Games in 2024, presented with the Jean Stone Award, were Stanmore.
It was a fitting end to what was an excellent week at the Stoke Mandeville Stadium, with high levels of team spirit shown throughout.
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