AGM 2022

Headlines:

• Covid-19 continues to disrupt
• Huge problems with some venues
• Return to sport and Awards Night
• New LD football service for girls and boys

The past year has been another very tough one for us all due to the ongoing global health emergency. A considerable number of our services were severely disrupted, and great care was exercised in restarting activities to ensure safety of our members, coaching staff and volunteers.  The JSAD motto was and remains‚ ‘safe – not sorry‘.

Adding to the mix we have seen no less than five of our groups experiencing difficulties restarting as the venues they operate from have had issues. One facility has been closed completely, another looks like it is just about to, two are subject to restricted hours of operation and only one of the problem areas has been resolved but that is a short to medium term solution only.

This issue with operational facilities has placed a significant additional load onto the back-office team who were and are working as hard as possible to manage the day to day administration of JSAD.

Over the next few months, we will need to support our groups who are experiencing difficulties with their operating venues and engaging with Government where necessary. There are many plans in the making to inject a significant investment in local sports facilities and we need to ensure that disability sport is not left behind.

While we have seen many challenges over the past year, we have also seen success in many forms. The courage of our members in showing such willingness to return to sport and the return of one of our most iconic events, the Jersey Marathon 26x1 2021 was staged pretty much as normal and seeing all our ‘orange heroes’ crossing the finishing line together was such a tonic.

We had sufficient activity returning to justify the return of our annual awards. While numbers attending the annual dinner and awards were limited due to the ongoing restriction in place, it is fair to say it was an evening to remember. Well done to all who were nominated for awards.

We are also well on the way to completing our information technology refresh and this project will ensure greater resilience of our back-office function.

No doubt the coming year will present us with more challenges but because of our fantastic team spirit and the support of our members I am confident we will emerge stronger than ever.

One final point, a new service, aimed at boys and girls aged 11 to 16, was launched earlier this year to cater for a need in this age group for organised LD football sessions.  How good is that!

Thank you all for your support over these most difficult of times and together we will get through whatever challenges are ahead.

Paul Patterson MBE

Chairman