A PROJECT empowering disabled people to take part in sports as part of the legacy of the London 2012 Paralympics Games is in line for regional acclaim after it was crowned Herefordshire and Worcestershire Sports Partnership’s Community Project of the Year.

‘Make it Like Mandeville’ is putting £80,000 of funding from the Sports England Inclusive Sport programme to work across North Worcestershire creating coaching and volunteering placements with specialist training for disabled people and carers in the area, as well as directly improving local disability sports.

More than 125 disabled people have already said they have become more active as a result of the project which is led by a consortium of Bromsgrove District, Redditch Borough and Wyre Forest District councils with a range of partners.

After it scooped gold at Worcester Warriors’ Sixways stadium Make it Like Mandeville will now go to the West Midlands Community Sports Awards at Aston Villa Football Club on November 27.

Redditch Borough Councillor Phil Mould, who is responsible for leisure services, said: “We launched this project to create more and better opportunities for accessible sports across Redditch and the wider area, and it’s encouraging to see that approach paying off so well.

“Together with Redditch’s excellent community of sports clubs I’m sure we’ll keep developing and improving local options for sports and active recreation.”

Other aims of the three-year project, that runs until 2016, include providing activity for everyone aged 14 and over within 15 minutes of where they live, and helping people find out about accessible activities more easily by creating a new referral pathway.