Supporting clubs across the country through the winter months - Club Support round-up

We're revamping our Club Support round-ups, with a new quarterly update bringing you one key Club Support story from each region. This time, we'll be updating you on how our Club Support team were out helping clubs with development matters during October to December 2025.

West Midlands - Tipton Harriers

Tipton Harriers commenced a process of looking at the future of the club and its development to meet the needs of a diverse membership base and community.

The club created an initial strategy document to consider the future objectives of the club and the steps to get there, and a membership survey, to ensure the club strategy and action plan was representative.

How we helped

Following the club survey, we reviewed the feedback and interpreted the data to feedback across key themes, and held a Vision & Action Plan workshop at the club where members were openly invited to come and share their input on the club’s future.

Following the workshop, we compiled the tasks to identify key themes and pulled together a review for the club highlighting recommendations and next steps. We then discussed this with the club and tasked them to move forward with the plan.

Moving forward

The club now have a set of clear steps to move forward with as they progress their strategy and vision for the club to meet the needs of the members and local community. We will continue to work closely with the club to implement key parts of the plan and support with funding we helped the club secure from Sandwell Council.

The impact of this work will provide the club with a clear vision and an action plan that they can deliver to increase the quality of their provision to meet the membership needs, whilst also widening access to athletics in the local area to increase participation.

London - Beckenham RC

Beckenham RC began a process of reviewing their affiliation to England Athletics and wanted to enhance the benefits that they currently tap into.  

The club wanted to support their members by working alongside England Athletics to deliver a Q&A session to ensure their members are best supported by us. The club also wanted clarification on insurance in relation to their LiRF Leaders.   

How we helped

Following an initial meeting with key members of the committee, the next step was to organise an online session for club members to attend to ensure any outstanding questions were answered. 

Moving forward

The club now have clear guidance of the benefits England Athletics can offer.  We were able to educate the club on some benefits they weren't making the most of (using the portal for payments was a key benefit they weren't using). 

Beckenham RC members are now well informed about Club Standards, and the club are keen to recruit and train more LiRF Leaders (to ensure they are keeping their members safe and mitigating risks). 

The club hope that the development of their coaches will lead to improved engagement and over time, attract new members. We will continue to work closely with this club in 2026 to support the safety of their sessions. The club referenced how supported they felt from England Athletics following the session.

South West - South West Road Runners

South West Road Runners originally contacted us after their newly appointed club chair came into post. The chair was keen to maximise his three-year tenure as club chair and explore how the club could develop a clear club plan. The motivation behind this was to help take the club forward and consult with the wider membership base to enable the club offer to reflect the needs and wants of their members.

We originally encouraged South West Road Runners to attend the South West Club Forum. This proved invaluable to the club as it gave them the opportunity to consult and network with other clubs and explore solutions to common challenges such as volunteer recruitment, club operations and improving club governance.  

How we helped

We supported South West Road Runners to develop a club survey to explore the coaching offer, member experience, club communications and the management of the club. We then worked alongside South West Road Runners to review the survey feedback and interpret the data to feedback across key themes.  

We facilitated a Vision & Action Plan workshop which was attended by 27 club members. The survey results were discussed giving members the opportunity to contribute towards key considerations for the clubs' future. Following the workshop, a report was pulled together highlighting recommendations and next steps.

Moving forward

A meeting was held with the club chair to talk through the findings and discuss recommendations and next steps. The club are now forming a working group and have committed to develop a draft action plan and club vision. This will be presented at the club AGM in February.

The club action plan is likely to focus on improving good governance, member experience and volunteer recruitment. The club are developing a new website along with other key resources following the recommendations in the review.

The impact of this work will provide the club with a clear vision and action plan that gives the club direction throughout 2026 and beyond.

Yorkshire and Humber - Easingwold Running Club

Easingwold Running Club are dedicated in providing the best offer they can to their 202 members and ensuring their volunteers are supported. The club have been an early adopter of Club Standards, and have a strong governance structure which they review regularly.

At the start of 2025, key club members applied and were accepted on to the England Athletics Club Leadership programme, which provided stimulus to further develop the club.

They have seen a growth in membership over recent years, leading the club to look at increasing their offer whilst maintaining the high standard they currently provide. This included identifying opportunities to provide better support to members over the winter period. The club were also keen to continue ensuring they had a robust governance structure that was fit for purpose and best supports its members and volunteers. 

How we helped

The club's initial focus was to review the training opportunities they offer with a view to providing an additional training night. Following advice from Club Support, the Club applied for a Club Improvement Fund grant, which supported some of the costs of training four new leaders and the renewal of Category B first aid training for their existing leaders and coaches.

The Club also sought advice on a lighting project within Millfield Park. This was a joint project between the club and Easingwold Town Council that aimed to extend the hours that the park could be used for running and exercise, providing a safe place to run away from roads that is local to the club and its members. The project was £5,000 short of the funds required for the project. We were able to help them access a grant to cover this shortfall.

The Club have also been reviewing their legal structure as an organisation in relation to both liability that sits with the committee and the management of a race they deliver each year. We provided guidance, access to resources and connected them with other clubs who have recently changed their legal structure.

Moving forward

The increase in the club's volunteer workforce has spread the load and allowed them to put on three sessions per week.

The lighting project at Millfield Park has now been completed. On the opening evening, the club organised a charity run, raising £670 in memory of a member recently lost through illness and also took part in the Let's Lift the Curfew initiative highlighting safe winter running for women in the community.

From the advice and resources given the club are now in a better position to make informed decisions about their governance structure and are currently working through a change that will support their volunteers, member and help the club to further its success. We will continue to support them with this work. 

South East - City of Portsmouth

City of Portsmouth had two committee members attend the Club Leadership Programme in 2025, and off the back of this along with an occurrence at the club, identified that their policies required some updates. 

How we helped

Support was provided to the club at the time of the occurrence in the form of online meetings and signposting to resources.

Examples of club surveys were sent to the club to inspire the committee on what sort of questions could be asked to their members in a questionnaire, and the club was signposted to the templates for the policies to aid in creation of their new documents 

We held online meetings to go through the updated policies and cover off any areas which required adjustments, and supported with the updating of the policies on the portal to ensure that the newest polices where there and the club now was marked 7/7 for Club Standards.

Moving forward

The club has a clear set of up to date policies reflecting best practice. The members of the club now have clear expectations of what to expect from the club and the behaviour demonstrated from the committee, coaches, volunteers and other members.

North West - Millom Striders

Millom Striders was looking to safeguard its future and ensure the pipeline of members continued. The club identified the challenges it faced, opportunities for growth and an action plan to achieve its goals. 

The club had strong fundamental coaching delivery and was keen to expand their coaching offer and technical knowledge.  

How we helped

The club worked with us to develop a SWOT analysis and spoke to current members and the community about what they enjoyed about the club and what could be more appealing. From this, there was a clear action plan for the club to move forwards with.  

The club also worked with Club Support to identify gaps in its coaching provision and where it should focus its efforts bearing in mind disciplines it could cover (based on equipment and space) and current capacity.  

Alongside this work, the club secured funding from local partners to enable them to further invest in their coaching offer.  

Moving forward

The club has developed a clear action plan to support its ongoing development, and coaches have a clear support structure in place. 

Millom Striders is now in a strong position to offer a wider range of opportunities for training, with the view of athletes being more confident to compete across track and field disciplines.  

They are aware of wider opportunities across England Athletics and have initially capitalised on this by successfully applying for Club Improvement Funding to purchase new throwing equipment.  Also, Club Support will continue to have touch points with the club.