Dozens of children and adults took part in a sports day for disabled people in Reading.
Families descended on the running track at Palmer Park Stadium in East Reading for a morning of accessible sports and activities.
The event was organised by the charity Sport Together Berkshire in partnership with Reading Borough Council.
People took part in wheelchair sports, cycling and other activities.
Afterwards, participants received goody bags from councillor Paul Gittings (Labour, Coley), the Mayor of Reading, and the event sponsor Gleeds.
Steph Johnson, one of the co-founders of Sport Together Berkshire, said: “With all of our festivals, the idea of them is that everybody just comes and has a go at whatever you want, and don’t have a go at what you don’t want.
“It’s given them a little taster of adapted sport that they can come and do in the area if they enjoy it. And it’s very relaxed.
“We don’t force people to do things. If there’s one thing they love, they can stay on it all day.
“That was always the reason for our charity: it is to bring sports together so people don’t have to go individually to clubs to have a go at stuff.
“And if they don’t know whether they want to have a go at something, why are they going to go and do it for an hour?
“Whereas here they can do something for five minutes, and if they hate it, they can move on to the next thing.
“So that’s basically why we found Sports Together Berkshire in 2023.”
On the sports people took part in, she said: “So they’ve done wheelchair rugby, wheelchair basketball, adapted cycling, multi-sport, boccia, new age curling, hockey, cricket. And we’ve had a small ‘swings and smiles’ sensory area for people who just want to have a bit of quiet time.
“If they just want to play, they can get away and do activities, they could go over there and just relax and have some sensory downtime. ”
The event took place from around 10am to 12.30pm today (Thursday, July 23).
About 50 to 60 people took part, with families and carers also attending the event.
The other co-founders of Sport Together Berkshire are Craig Hunter and Dan Brook.
This was the second Festival of Inclusivity in Reading organised in partnership with the council, with the charity running about 15 to 18 similar festivals.
Mrs Johnson explained: “We run these every year; we’ve been to Arborfield Leisure Centre, the Avenue School, Kennet Leisure Centre, Tadley, Cantley Park and Reading FC’s dome.”
You can find out how to support Sports Together Berkshire, including through volunteering, using the contact details on its website.
