WIDNES Vikings and Vikings Sport Foundation were delighted to be awarded the 2016 ‘Super League Foundation of the Year’ at the Steve Prescott Man of Steel awards on Monday night.

The reasons behind the Vikings being this year’s recipients of the award explained that the club’s foundation had ’developed considerably over the last year.

Their innovative partnership with health and the local authority to support a wide array of projects impressed the review panel.’

With 31 projects being delivered throughout the community, which include the likes of Sky Try, Game Changer, Golden Generation and Chemics Café, the Vikings are continually striving to make a difference in their local community and are hoping to carry that ethos into the future.

Richard Munson, Community Integrated Director at Widnes Vikings, was quick to express his delight and pride at being able to accept this award on behalf of his team at the awards, and speaks about further plans for next year in which the Vikings Sport Foundation will continue to develop in the community.

“On behalf of the club and Vikings Sports Foundation, it was brilliant to accept the Foundation of the Year award,” he said.

“From a community perspective, it really is an achievement to get this recognition as there is some brilliant work going on in rugby league foundations right across the country. I would like to thank the RFL and Rugby League Cares for their support.

“I am fortunate to lead a brilliant community team and I would like to thank every member for their tireless efforts across the last year.

"Grant Gore, Dan Newall, James Owen and Joe Purcell have led our school engagement work with real dedication and this showed when we received our full 'Green' audit from the RFL earlier this year on our Sky Try project. Liam Clark has used his experience in community development to deliver the 'Vikings Learning Hub' which has supported over 30 young people to achieve qualifications, whilst Dan Scott has ensured that our out of school community projects have been delivered to a high standard.

We are very proud of our partnership with Halton Clinical Commissioning Group, of which the First Tackle Project led by Rebecca Jones has laid the foundations for the growth of this successful partnership. Finally, Adam Daniels has activated the 'Game Changer' programme in local schools from concept stage. The initiative has been well received and is already gaining national profile.

“I am consciously aware of the support our community work receives from all departments within the club and feel that this is in fact a whole club award as everyone has supported our vision in different ways.

"A great example of our 'One Club' culture is the way our coaches and players engage in our programmes and I would like to thank in particular Denis Betts who has supported our work from providing us with access to the players through to actually presenting to partners on our behalf. A further reason I feel our community programme is as strong as it is in my opinion is the support it receives from our dedicated trustees of the Vikings Sports Foundation and the Board of the club.

"In particular I would like to highlight the support of James Rule, who understands fully the importance of community engagement and has provided the full backing of the club in helping us achieve our 'Power of Sport' vision.

“Finally, our community programme would not be what it is without our partners and the people who attend and take part. We currently deliver 31 projects in the community and benefit from the support of a number of partners including Halton Clinical Commissioning Group, Halton Borough Council, Community Integrated Care, Riverside College, The Cheshire and Merseyside Vanguard, Barclays, Wooden Spoon and The Rank Foundation who all support our push for innovation.

“We have some exciting plans for the next year which we hope will take the scope of our work further.”