The Alliance turns 80: Looking back to look forward

As the Alliance turns 80, its current Chief Executive, Emma Boggis, has looked back at the challenges facing the sector and nation at the time of its foundation back in 1935. 

It is a great privilege to be leading an organisation that can trace its roots back over 80 years and reaching such a significant landmark offers the perfect opportunity to reflect a little on the achievements of the organisation since its formation back in June 1935 as well as look back at the challenges of the past compared to those we face today.

In 1936, a mere year into the Alliance’s (or the CCRPT as it was then) existence, the British Medical Association published a report that detailed that 79% of the population between 14 and 40 took no form of regular physical exercise. In the last few weeks a similar report from the British Heart Foundation found that 44% of the population does no moderate form of physical exercise. Even 80 years apart, there is still work to be done to promote and raise a healthy, active nation.

To mark the 21st Birthday of the CCPR in 1956, HRH The Duke of Edinburgh, in his role as our President, delivered a televised message titled “Active Leisure” to the nation which was watched by an estimated 9.5 million people. In it he covered a range of topics and listed four main problems stopping the nation being active:

1. Lack of indoor and outdoor facilities
2. Lack of full-time and part-time coaches
3. Lack of knowledge of what people could do in their leisure time
4. How to get people started and to overcome the shyness of beginners

He then went on to address these problems with reference the role the CCPR was playing to help remedy them. Included in his comments were themes covering outdoor recreation, grassroots sport, movement and dance and international competition.

In his address His Royal Highness also said “All I am concerned about is that people should not be forced to do nothing because there is no opportunity for them to do something in their leisure time”. I feel well placed to say that, with over 320 members of the Alliance representing a huge variety of sports and recreations, there has never been more choice for people to get active. But we also know that as a population we are increasingly time poor and face competing demands, so in order to provide the opportunity and access we all want to see, we collectively have to work harder than ever.

Similar challenges also remain around facilities, coaching and funding and we are continuing to work hard to ensure these issues are addressed through work like our five-step plan to a more active population and the consultation on developing a strategy for the outdoors.

As an organisation the Alliance has gone through inevitable periods of change over the last 80 years, from having numerous regional offices and three national centres, to becoming a centralised body. Throughout all these changes our core mission remains the same, to help the sector be the best it can be and, as a result, develop a physically active and ambitious nation.

When I spoke at an event last year not long after I was appointed as CEO, which focussed on increasing female representation on Boards, I said I was delighted not to be the first woman to lead the Alliance. Today I would invite you have a look at the development of the Alliance as penned by its founder, Phyllis Colson, back in 1956 as well the words from HRH The Duke of Edinburgh at the end of this piece. It provides a fascinating insight into the challenges facing the sector at the time and also inspires us – and I hope you - to keep striving to create a better future.

I would like to thank all those who’ve been involved with the Alliance, past and present, in making the organisation what it is today and I look forward to the next 80 years of continuing to develop and strengthen the role of sport and recreation in our society.

A look back at the origins of the Alliance:

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