The video begins with a calm piano melody over the panoramic of a city on a cloudy day.
There’s some white text on top of the image.
It reads:
‘Since 2018, Sport England has been working in Calderdale to tackle inactivity.’
The same melody continues but the image changes to a purple-lit indoors area where we see a wide white door with a pink neon sign on top of it that says ‘Unique community hub’.
All of a sudden we hear the voice of a man and soon after the image changes to him sitting down next to a young woman, in an indoors room with fairy lights on the wall and a pink neon sign on the wall that says ‘Once upon a time’.
They’re both wearing black sport wear with a logo on their chest made of colourful hand silhouettes making a circle around the words ‘Unique Community Hub’.
White copy appears on the screen with their names.
It reads: ‘Yasar Mohammed and Toyaba Ali, Founders of Unique Community Hub’.
Yasar says:
"We’re like 2% of deprivation in the area."
While he talks, the image changes to some kids dancing with their hands up. Some are wearing jumpers with the same colourful hands that make up the hub’s logo. After we see a kid wearing a black sport jumper with the colourful hands on it, wearing a helmet and riding a bike outdoors, then a group of young girls sitting on the floor cheering another girl who’s jumping with a rope.
Yasar continues: “We’re just fed up with a lack of opportunities. For our young people and the wider community and especially girls.”
The image gets closer to the face of the girl jumping the rope and then we see her outdoors, standing up with a football pitch behind her. While she talks, the image changes to the group of girls indoors that was shown before. Some girls are sitting down and others are dancing.
Her eyes are not looking at the camera and one appears closed.
She says:
“My name is Ikram. I’m 11 years old. I’ve been completely blind since birth. It matters to me that everyone is happy and feeling comfortable and welcome here.”
The image shows Yasar and Toyaba again sitting indoors and while Yasar talks the image shows some kids running outdoors.
Yasar says:
“And without Active Calderdale and Sport England this dream would never have become a reality.”
Toyaba talks and the image changes from them talking indoors to a group of girls playing football on an outdoors pitch and back to Yasar and Toyaba.
She says: "They’ve never had somewhere to go and especially females. Growing up it was never encouraged for us to be active. We thought this is our opportunity now to change the game, change the narrative that girls can be active.
"If we don’t do something about it now it’s never going to change, so we had to be that change that we wanted when we were kids."
The music goes up and a black background covers the screen.
White text appears.
It says:
'Where we live affects how active we can be due to inequality of access and opportunity.
'Places of high deprivation and social need have high levels of inactivity.
'Sport England is partnering with 53 new places so everyone – regardless of postcode – can get active.'
The image changes to a group of schoolboys and girls in uniform playing around an outdoors school playground. The image then changes to a man playing a racket sport indoors and then to the same man talking, while his name and role appear in white text: Richard Croker, Active Calderdale Programme Manager.
He says:
"Sport England support has been fundamental to what we’ve been able to do and achieve.
"The capacity and leadership from Sport England has enabled us to involve and partner with lots of organisations, services and people right across the system, enabling them to play that part supporting people in communities to be active."
The image goes back to inside Unique Community Hub, where a group of girls are dancing and then to another group of older girls running and playing football during an outdoors training session.
The hub logo can be seen on their clothing and on signs.
The voice of another man is heard. He says:
“Funding was a game-changer, Active Calderdale and Sport England.”
The voice of a woman is heard right after.
She says:
“That’s changed so many lives, because the impact that we’re having now with the girls and the numbers that we’re getting.”
The image the changes to a school class where there’s a teacher with a group of excited children in uniform cheering and jumping indoors.
Then a woman with an ID on a lanyard around her neck talks on a playground. Her name and role appear on the screen: Sharon Harwood, headteacher of New Road Primary School.
While she talks the image changes to schoolkids doing star jumps in the class and other physical activities.
She says:
“Now what the teachers do when they’re planning lessons, they incorporate a physical moment within the lesson.”
The image changes to a building in a green area. Its name and purpose are written in white letters on the screen: St Augustine’s Centre, Supports refugees and people seeking asylum in Halifax.
A young woman appears on the screen with her name and role on white letters: Zin Myint, St Augustine’s Centre Member.
She’s sitting on a bench on the porch of the building with a black and white cat behind her, and at times she and another man sitting on the porch play with it.
She says:
"My name is Zin and I’m originally from Burma, and I used to be a journalist. I did a lot of like, writings, on what government is doing, so they don’t like it.
"If I go back, my whole family will be in danger.
"When I came here, like three months ago, just, just, I was in a bad place, you know?
"Where I’m coming from I have a lot of mental issues and I’ve been going to the boxing gyms like every week, which is very helpful.
"I think St Augustine – they saved my life!"
The image changes now to another woman on a kitchen making a cup of tea and then she is sitting on a green sofa and her name and role appear on white lettering: Kelly Lees, Volunteer at The Basement Recovery Project.
While she talks we see a man walking on the street and going into a house with the name ‘Basement House’ above its door and Kelly appears exercising indoors.
She says:
“I’m Kelly. I came in to recover eight years ago from heroin, amphetamine, alcohol. I used some substances cause that was numbing the trauma that I’ve been through.
"I heard of The Basement Recovery Project, from a few of my friends that I actually used with years ago.
"Physical activity has helped with my mental health, it’s helped with my confidence, my esteem and my worth, and it’s helped with connection, you know?
"Because when we view substances previously we weren’t connected with anyone or anything. We was only connected with our substance and then that’s helped us go out into the world with society."
A man appears boxing indoors, followed by a young schoolboy playing hopscotch on a school playground, girls playing football on an outdoor pitch and kids with helmets riding bikes outdoors.
The Sport England logo appears in the bottom-right corner of the image.
A male voice says:
“And it’s unity through sports, ultimately, so that’s the greatest thing – sport is a universal language, no matter where you go, you know? People just come together and this is just, it goes to show, this is living proof.”
A woman’s voice agrees and says “Yeah”.
The blue Sport England logo appears in the centre of the screen.
The music fades out.
