Are you Set 4 Success?

What a sporting end to the lockdown – the Euro Cup Finals, Wimbledon, The Open Golf, F1 at Brands Hatch and finally the Olympics 2020 in Japan. The Rotary Club of Horsham (RCH) initiated Set4Success in late 2009 after Rotary International in Britain & Ireland had suggested that Clubs ‘adopt’ an athlete who might make it to the 2012 London Olympics. The RCH had tied up with butterfly swimming hopeful Callum Hillicks and both the Club and its Rotary District 1250 had contributed towards his competing and training costs.

The RCH then decided to build Set4Success around the premise of adopting an athlete but instead of just one, many and continuously beyond London 2012.  The RCH worked with local schools, sports clubs, businesses, Horsham District Council and the charity, SportsAid, to identify and support young, talented 12-18 year olds with the potential to become future sports stars and Olympians. The support would take the form of grants towards training costs, publicity and recognition from more than just “Mum and Dad” through an awards ceremony.

The first awards took place in 2011 and funding was generated through the scheme sponsors, largely local businesses, and fund raising events which included encouraging businesses to take part in various sporting competitions throughout the year. Football, Ultimate Frisbee, Golf, Bowls, Darts, Snooker and Table Tennis were just some of the entertaining events arranged throughout the 11 years Set4Success has been running. These business sporting events were coordinated by Horsham District Council, one of the major sponsors.

Fast forward to January 2020 and we had the last Set4Success Awards ceremony with our major sponsor Christs Hospital School with a fitting tribute to the late John Le Rossignol who started this scheme and largely ran it from its inception along with Peter Lake. Then Coronavirus happened in March of 2020, all sporting activity stopped, no training, no competitions, just lockdown. Now we have begun to return to a more normal life and RCH have reviewed their activities and wish to focus on more projects that will help those who have been impacted by Coronavirus so we have decided to close Set4Success having helped over 180 young athletes in 9 years compete at national and international level in their chosen sport.

We would like to thank our sponsors – Christ’s Hospital, AAH, Wakefields Jewellers, Horsham District Council, Kreston Reeves, Impact Specialist Finance, Places Leisure and Treetop Design & Print. We would also like to thank our Patrons – Mike Goody, Jade Lally,  Lucy Wood, Gemma Spofforth, Chris Nash and Billy Twelvetrees. Most of all we would like to thank our committee most of whom have been with Set4Success since its inception, they have given their time freely to help run Set4Success and it could not have happened without the wider help of the community in this committee.

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Rugby Challenge Evening - 30/03/2017
Match report by Ian Ford of Horsham District Council