Sporting endeavour in the city is celebrated

Wolverhampton's sporting community came together to celebrate the skills dedication and hard work of athletes and those who support them.

The annual Wolverhampton Sports Advisory Council awards evening was held at Fordhouses Cricket and Social Club on Tuesday evening with over 30 people and organisations from across the city recognised.

Sports represented included football, netball, tennis, athletics, wrestling hockey and canoeing with awards given in categories from team and club of the year to volunteer of the year and disabled athlete of the the year.

Wolverhampton mayor Councillor Linda Leach presented the trophies and spoke of how proud she was to be able to celebrate the city's sporting prowess.

Supported by the City of Wolverhampton Council, the Sports Advisory Council has been in existence since 1966 and has always supported a variety of groups and clubs.

Chairperson Peter Holmes MBE said this was a year which had seen three gold medals, two silvers and one bronze presented to people from the city in the Olympics and Paralympic events.

He said: "Sport has always been massively important in any society and it is to be hoped that when cuts have to be made to services to save money, sport should not automatically be the one to suffer.

"The volunteers and competitors here tonight, all of whom give their time for free are proof of how much people love their sport, the friendships it can bring and how good it can be for individuals and teams."

Special  trophies of recognition were presented to former football league referee Alex Hamil MBE, hockey stalwart Sandeep Maan, Janet Wrighton MBE for netball and Ruth Burton for athletics.