Disabled children and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds are able to now access a range of recycled sports equipment thanks to a new partnership between Wallis Shipping and the UK’s leading youth cricket and disability sports charity, The Lord’s Taverners.
Wallis Shipping, which has locations in Colchester, Rugby, London and Slough, has been managing global shipments of The Lord’s Taverners recycled cricket and football kit, enabling the charity to do vital work in locations such as Rwanda, Greece, Mali and Nigeria.
The Lord’s Taverners empower young people to overcome the challenges of inequality by improving the health, mental wellbeing and future prospects of participants as well as strengthening community and social cohesion through sport.
They also develop a network of volunteers, coaches and role models who work to develop the capabilities and skills of the young people to ensure they fulfil their potential and build life skills.
Richard Cook, from The Lord’s Taverners, said: “We’d like to say a huge thank you to Wallis Shipping for their support since 2020, allowing us to help young people around the world access sport as part of our kit recycling programme.
Due to the expertise and knowledge, we handled a shipment of 1.2 tonnes’ worth of sports equipment, which would never have happened without the help and persistence of Wallis Shipping.”
The Lord’s Taverners sports kit recycling programme helps young people in the UK and abroad to access vital equipment. Many young people in the UK and abroad find it hard to access sport, with one of the main barriers being a simple lack of access to the right kit. The programme collects usable kit from across the UK, which is sorted and redistributed to partner organisations within the UK and around the world.
Wallis Shipping has been in operation since 1987 and provides services in global freight cargo management from its head office in Langham Business Park on the Suffolk-Essex border. Celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, the company looks after exports, imports and cross trades all around the world across sea, air, road and offers specialisms in global events and exhibitions.
Stuart Gregory, Managing Director of Wallis Shipping added: “When the Lord’s Taverners approached us about helping them with their logistics needs we instantly said yes. With myself – and many of team here – being cricket enthusiasts we know the importance of sport in community and knew we wanted to help this esteemed charity provide sporting goods to help disadvantaged children. Wallis always aims to deliver local service on a global scale. Working with such an important charity as The Lord’s Taverners makes us proud and we hope to continue our great relationship with them for many years.”
Jenna Morgan, Commercial Director at Wallis Shipping, said: “Working with the Lord’s Taverners is a logistical challenge that we really enjoy. One shipment literally went to Timbuktu. And as you can imagine the logistical operations of reaching these landlocked, remote regions are not without challenges. However, with the great working partnership with Lord’s Taverners and our African agents we were successful with the shipments”.
For more information about the work of Wallis Shipping please visit www.wssl.co.uk
For more information on The Lord’s Taverners and ways in which you can support them please visit www.lordstaverners.org