RGU and Denis Law Legacy Trust sign new partnership agreement

For many years now the two organisations have enjoyed a successful partnership, with RGU represented at the highest levels of the charity on both the Denis Law Legacy Trust Advisory Board and External Fundraising committee.

Working alongside Police Scotland and the Scottish Fire and Rescue Service, the University has always played a vital role in the steering of Denis Law Legacy Trust and its flagship Streetsport programme.

Streetsport was founded in 2006 by two members of staff from Gray’s School of Art and RGU SPORT with the aim of reducing instances of anti-social behaviour; improving health and wellbeing; and encouraging inclusivity through sport, physical activity, and creative endeavour. This attracted the attention of Denis Law Legacy Trust in 2011 and two years later, the two organisations merged the running, management and support of the operation together.

Now under the banner of Denis Law Legacy Trust, the programme has grown significantly, with over 24,000 participations across all activities, delivering free weekly sport and creative activity sessions for young people, five-nights a week, 50-weeks of the year. For this work, the Trust was awarded the Queen’s Award for Voluntary Service, the MBE for voluntary groups, and has successfully reduced instances of youth anti-social behaviour across the city in communities such as Torry, Mastrick and Kincorth.

Scott McGinigal, Chairman of Denis Law Legacy Trust said “We are incredibly grateful to RGU for their continued partnership and the generous support we receive at all levels of the University, from lecturers and student volunteers to the Principal and Executive committee.

“Our partnership with the University is unique and one that I am very proud of. This new agreement highlights the importance of our partnership and is just one of the many ways we are looking forward to continuing to work with RGU to support vulnerable young people and their communities to thrive.”

Professor Lynn Kilbride, Vice Principal for Academic Development and Student Experience at RGU, said: “RGU’s commitment to Aberdeen and its neighbouring communities is unwavering. For almost 20-years now the Streetsport programme has provided an enormous amount of support and activity to young people across the entire city and we are so proud of its growth and success.

“This enhanced agreement, which further cements our partnership for the upcoming years, will ensure that the great work that all parties achieve and the opportunities that they create will continue at pace.”

In recent years, the partnership has flourished and the Trust has rolled out several successful initiatives and additional programming, such as CLUB 10, Denis Law’s Academy, Granite City Speaks and, of course, Aberdeen’s three Cruyff Courts – free to access community sport facilities – including Scotland’s first, the Cruyff Court Denis Law.

Most recently, the two organisations launched the Denis Law RGUplus Award to recognise the commitment, citizenship and social responsibility of people making a positive impact through volunteering.

Mark Williams, Chief Operating Officer, Denis Law Legacy Trust said “This has been a landmark year for Denis Law Legacy Trust and we are now in position to support more young people than ever before.

“This continued growth would be impossible without the generous support of RGU, who do so much to support the steering, fundraising and delivery of our programmes. Therefore, I am delighted that this new agreement will further strengthen our partnership for years to come.”

Denis Law Legacy Trust is a registered charity that operates and delivers a number of free to access programmes and positive destination activities for young people in Aberdeen.