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A great year for Insite, the Essex Cultural Tourism Programme
Date: 20 July 2006
Insite, the Essex Cultural Tourism Programme, is already making significant progress with a range of projects that celebrate sites around the county.
Last summer saw the successful Mercury Theatre production
‘Three Heads in a Well’ tour ten sites in the county ranging from Hylands House to Rayleigh Mount. Earlier this year Insite presented
‘What Is It About Essex?’ a prelude to the Essex Book Festival. The event featured Germaine Greer who as part of the project wrote an article in the Observer newspaper drawing national attention to the positive side of the county.
During the spring of this year two innovative projects came out of the Insite creative pot.
Spoke ’n’ Word developed cycle and walking tours of the Colne Valley punctuated with poetry, and led by local rock singer turned writer Martin Newell.
Meanwhile,
Essex streetdiversions brought street artists from around the globe to four parts of the county peaking in a spectacular aerial dance/circus performance from Argentinean company Grupa Puja, which performed to over three thousand people in Chelmsford’s Central Park.
The 2006 programme continues in August with
Souterrain, an opportunity to see the internationally acclaimed performance company Wildworks working in collaboration with local organisations and people in and around the firsite:newsite development Colchester.
The final event of the year is an Essex Food Challenge that has Chef Mark Baumann (ITV's Baumannn goes to Market); Photographer James Fletcher (EDF Energy's Photographer of the Year); and local school children identifying produce from around the county leading to a "cook-off" at Baumann's Brasserie in Coggeshall and an exhinition of original artistic images celebrating Essex landscapes and food.
The Insite programme initially runs for only three years, but there are many initiatives such as the ones above that are now ripe for development. Consequently Insite is looking to make links with local businesses to help create packages that tap into the economic impact tourism is having on Essex – currently estimated at over £1.5 billion in terms of expenditure by visitors to the county.
If you’d like to make links with the Insite programme and its events check out the website
www.insite-essex.co.uk or contact Rob West at
rob.west@exdra.co.uk
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National survey raises the bar for sport in Essex
Date: 07 December 2006
The largest sport and recreation survey ever undertaken within England has set a major challenge for sportessex, the new body with responsibility for strategic sports development in Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
The Active People Survey questioned over 360,000 people (at least 1,000 people in every single local authority area) and paints a national picture of sporting participation and volunteering never before created within England.
The results for Essex, Southend and Thurrock show a mixed picture and will be used by sportessex as they embark on their ambitious programme of activity to increase participation levels within the area.
On average, the percentage of people across Essex, Southend and Thurrock participating in at least 3x30 minutes of moderate intensity physical activity is 20.03%. The national average is 21%. Of the 14 authority areas within Essex, Southend and Thurrock, 6 are performing below the national average, 5 at or about the national average and 3 above the national average.
Whilst participation levels are below the national average it’s a different story as far as volunteering is concerned. Essex, Southend and Thurrock is revealed as an area where people are more than prepared to volunteer and help in local sporting activities. The survey reveals that on average 5.17% of the adult population contribute at least one hour a week volunteering to sport, compared to a national average of 4.7%. Uttlesford has the best rate of volunteering anywhere in the East of England (8.27%).
The survey will be used as key base line data for sportessex as it works with a range of partners to increase participation in sport and physical activity across Essex, Southend and Thurrock.
Director of sportessex, Angela Littlewood commented that, “these are mixed results for Essex, but provide us and our partners with a clear focus for the immediate future. We take the health and welfare of the people of Essex very seriously and we will aim to improve the quality of life for people living and working in Essex through sport.”
Active People Survey Press Release 7.12.06
(850 KB) 
For further information please contact:
Angela Littlewood, sportessex director
Tel: 01245 702490
Email: angela.littlewood@sportessex.org
Alistair Russell, sportessex Communications and Marketing Co-ordinator
Tel: 01245 702458
Email: alistair.russell@sportessex.org
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