East London Vision (ELVis) supports people with sight loss across the seven east London Boroughs north of the Thames.

Following three successful introductory multi-sports events in Barking and Dagenham, Waltham Forest and Tower Hamlets earlier on in this year, ELVis, with a range of partners, organised a fourth event as part of the Community Games programme. Held on 7th September at Newham Leisure Centre, the day was attended by 19 blind and partially sighted residents of East London.

The partners included Active Newham, West Ham FC, Metro Blind Sport and England Athletics, and a project called Challenge Network, which provides opportunities for 16 and 17 year-olds to volunteer.

Participants had the opportunity to try a variety of sports, including athletics, tandem cycling, goalball, judo, football, table tennis, swimming and poly bat, and could also attend an initial gym induction.

One of the participants said on the day “It’s been so great trying out all these different sports and meeting different people. I didn’t realise so many sports were accessible to me.  My favourite sport from today has to be Judo as I have never had the opportunity to try it! The whole organisation of the day has been very impressive.”

Laura Ross, the service development and delivery officer for ELVis, said, “Everyone seemed to have a great day enjoying the variety of sports on offer. I’d like to say a big thank you to the volunteers from the Challenge Network who helped to make the whole event go very smoothly.”