Key appointment for Exeter’s CITY Community Trust

LEADING Exeter health and wellbeing charity, CITY Community Trust, is raising its profile in the business community with the appointment of new development manager Craig Townsend.

The organisation, which is Exeter City Football Club’s partner charity and was formerly known as Football in the Community, has recently undergone a name change to more accurately reflect the work it is delivering across the greater Exeter area.

The charity provides a range of activities to people of all ages, focussed on health, education, wellbeing and physical activity. With the appointment of Craig, it is now aiming to build on its community engagement and raise its profile with businesses in the city and surrounding area.

Craig said: ‘The organisation has been delivering its services to the people of the Exeter area for more than 25 years. From being purely based in football it now delivers a range of health, education and wellbeing activity, supporting some of the most vulnerable in our society.'

‘We know that the Exeter business community cares about the people in its city and I’m already delighted with the positive response we’ve received from local business people, offering their support, from suggestions for fundraising activities to choosing CITY Community Trust as their charity of the year.’

Craig was formerly manager of the high-performance sport programme at Exeter University where he directed and managed a team of senior sports directors and performance leads from grassroots to professional level.

Previous to this his career spanned coaching and managing at Exeter Chiefs and a spell on the international sevens circuit as manager of the England Sevens Team. A very keen golfer he managed and developed golf in Devon through the Devon Golf Partnership and can occasionally be found on the links of Dawlish Warren Golf Club playing socially.

CITY Community Trust delivers a range of programmes including Powerchair football for wheelchair users, sessions for deaf people and young people with Down’s Syndrome, as well as opportunities for men and women of all ages with mental health issues and learning difficulties.

It also works closely with other agencies to engage people who may be hard to reach, including a lunchtime football club session for homeless people. The organisation also delivers the National Citizen Service across 21 Devon schools and colleges. This summer more than 500 15-17 year olds signed up to take part in the programme. It also runs after school and holiday clubs for children aged from three years old.

The charity does not receive any guaranteed core funding from the Government and relies on trusts, grants and donations to deliver its huge range of programmes.

For more information about how you can support CITY Community Trust contact Craig Townsend on craig.townsend@ecfc.co.uk, telephone 07809 511971, or visit the website at www.exetercitycommunitytrust.co.uk.