The community partnership between Arriva plc , the Leicester Racial Equality Council and the "Positive Images Project " was launched last year by the Secretary of State for Trade and Industry and Minister for Women, the Rt. Hon Patricia Hewitt MP.

The project will be launching twelve posters of local positive images and role models of racial minority women and girls in the community that play and coach physical activity and sports.  The project has worked closely with the De Montfort University "Involve" Project and a volunteer student graphic designer, Priti Mistry who has captured the clear message of ëWe play Tooí and hopes to inspire all racial minority women and girls at any age or level to give it a go.

We are honoured to have the real ëBend It Like Beckhamí Aman Dosanj, the first South Asian woman to play for the England Football Team and Kerry Williams, a striker for the Leicester Ladies Hockey Club to launch the campaign.

The campaign will be running throughout the year, with a series of events including free sports and physical activity taster sessions for women at local leisure and community centres. The posters will be displayed inside Arriva buses, and a series of articles on local positive images by Gaynor Nash, Womenís Sport Columnist will be published in the Leicester Mercury alongside the campaign.

Four secondary schools have also been involved, producing visuals depicting the history of women in sport in the 20th century and the best female sporting personalities from all around the world.  These banners, CDís and posters will be displayed at 'LeicestHERday' at De Montfort Hall and the New Walk Museum after which they will be travelling to schools, community centres, libraries and sporting facilities.

The rest of the afternoon, will be dedicated to a discussion/debate titled "Racism and Football" followed by the signing of the Race Equality Charter for Sport by the five professional sports clubs within Leicestershire demonstrating their commitment to achieving Race Equality in Sport.

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Comments:

LREC Chief Executive Iris Lightfoote said  ëThis launch demonstrates the progress being made by the 'Positive Images' Campaign to engage women and girls in sports and physical activities, both of which contribute to improved health and well being.  The signing of the Race Equality Charter for Sports by the professional sports clubs within Leicestershire is the beginning of collaborative work to achieve sustainable outcomes in this area.í

Managing director of Arriva Midlands, Neil Barker said: "This campaign provides an excellent opportunity for racial minority women to get involved in physical activity.  We were delighted to have been given the opportunity to support it, as part of our commitment to the communities in which we operate".

Sport England provides funding for the Leicester Racial Equality & Sports Project.  Karen Chouhan, member of the Sport England East Midlands Regional Sports Board said: "I hope this project will inspire girls and women in Leicester to play and coach physical activities and sports.

"There are so many girls and women from ethnic minority groups out there who can make a huge difference to their own lives and their local communities by getting involved in sport and physical activity at every level. It is healthy, challenging, sociable and, above all, it is fun!"

Karen Chouhan is also Director of the 1990 Trust ? a national Black-led non-government organisation influencing race policies in Britain and working directly on empowerment strategies with Black communities and Chair of Belgrave Baheno Peepul Centre in Leicester ? leading a regeneration programme for Asian women, with sport development as a key element.

Tim Garfield, Regional Director of Sport England East Midlands said:  "We recognise that this is just one aspect of a lot of excellent work going on in Leicester much of which is being co-ordinated by the Leicester Racial Equality and Sport project but crucially also involves the City Council, professional clubs and other partners. We all want the same thing; for all our communities to be more active, have fun and benefit their health."

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Itinerary for March 1st