The Duchess of Cambridge sends special 40th birthday message to SportsAid
Published
The Duchess of Cambridge has praised SportsAid’s contribution to British sport and the difference its supporters have made to ‘thousands of young people and their families’ in a special message to mark the charity’s 40th birthday today. The Duchess became the Patron of SportsAid, the charity providing financial support and recognition to the next generation of British Olympians and Paralympians, in 2013
Her Royal Highness has spent time with young athletes supported by SportsAid, and previous beneficiaries of the charity’s help, at fundraising events, training days and performance workshops.
For four decades, SportsAid has helped many of the country's biggest sporting household names at the critical early stages of their careers - long before they were widely known by the British public.
Jessica Ennis-Hill, Mo Farah, Tom Daley, Bradley Wiggins, Tanni Grey-Thompson, Chris Hoy, Steve Redgrave and Ellie Simmonds are just a few previous recipients of SportsAid Awards.
When SportsAid was founded in 1976, as part of a plan from the UK’s first Sports Minister Denis Howell, the charity was the country’s major source of funding for most of its top athletes as they looked to compete against usually better-resourced overseas rivals.
SportsAid, originally known as the Sports Aid Foundation, supported many of Great Britain's athletes at the Montreal 1976 Olympic Games including Sharron Davies, David Wilkie and Duncan Goodhew.
The SportsAid Award they received, as it still does today, helped contribute to covering a range of costs such as training and competition fees, accommodation, transportation, kit and nutrition.
The money was raised by SportsAid from the private sector and the Football Pools back then. Since National Lottery funding arrived in 1997 to help Britain’s top athletes, SportsAid has focused solely on helping talented young athletes, the next generation coming through, and still seeks support from the private sector as well as the usual mix of other charitable fundraising sources.
Each year, the athletes are nominated to SportsAid by the national governing bodies (NGBs) of more than 60 sports. The charity is supporting 1200 athletes, the vast majority aged 12 to 18, in 2016.
Related content
A speech by The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry for Heads Together on World Mental Health Day
To us, mental health first aid means getting in there early to support people, before what they're going through becomes more serious or even clinical.
The Duchess of Cambridge's message of support for the Anna Freud mental health podcast series
I hope that this excellent series of podcasts by the Anna Freud Centre will go some way to help families overcome that fear of what happens next if they look for professional...
A speech by The Duchess of Cambridge at SportsAid's 40th anniversary dinner
The brilliance of SportsAid is in really understanding just how much athletic competition gives to our country as a whole.
Supporting children's hospices
The Royal Foundation of The Prince and Princess of Wales
A speech by The Duchess of Cambridge at the Place2Be Headteacher Conference
I am sure you will agree that all children deserve time, attention and love from the adults in their lives.
A message of support to The Art Room and The Clore Duffield Foundation, on their 50th anniversary, from The Duchess of Cambridge
A speech by The Duchess of Cambridge at Bear Cottage
To be here together as a family has been very special and we will always remember it with fond and happy memories.
The Duchess of Cambridge becomes Patron of three new organisations
A message from HRH The Duchess of Cambridge to 100 Women in Hedge Funds
A message from The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge to the Race to Recovery team on completion of the Dakar Rally
First full year of The Royal Foundation of The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Prince Harry
The Duke of Cambridge becomes Patron of the Welsh Rugby Charitable Trust
A speech by The Duchess of Cambridge at the EACH Hospice in Ipswich
What you have all achieved here is extraordinary.