Double Olympian Charlotte is a hit for Age UK Bolton

Former European Champion, World Cup Medallist and double Olympian Charlotte Gilmartin got her skates on to get down to the Age UK Bolton Ageing Well Centre in Farnworth to talk about Safeguarding in sport, a topic that the short track speed skater turned firefighter is very passionate about.

The visit and talk was part of a health and wellbeing event organised by Age UK Bolton and included a talk about bio-mechanics from Age UK Bolton Strength and Balance Coach Stephen Franklin and involvement from Bolton Council’s “Lets Keep Bolton Moving” campaign as well as representation from the social prescribers team.

The main event, however, was undoubtedly the presentation and subsequent discussion from Charlotte Gilmartin, where she talked candidly about her career, the triumphs and the lowest points, the pressures of being an elite athlete and the importance of safeguarding at all levels of sport.

“I’m definitely passionate about giving back because of what I’ve been through personally and seeing what my teammates have been through. You can in quite a dark hole if you don’t have the right support around you.”

“I don’t want to put people off sport. I think people can get so much from it, from a community, from travel from being able to get the adrenaline, the endorphins and everything else. It’s not that sport is negative it's just making sure that things are in place to keep sport positive.”

: Charlotte was joined by Tina Thordal who runs sessions to gather the views of sport and activity participants for the Ann Craft Trust. The Ann Craft Trust is a national safeguarding charity, funded by Sport England to support the sport and activity sector with safeguarding adults www.anncrafttrust.org/safeguarding-adults-sport-activity

“I think there’s been a number of main cases within the news that have highlighted concerns abound abuse.”

“I think it’s something that’s really important to be discussed. What we are doing at the moment is going around as many sports and clubs and disability groups as possible and we are raising awareness around abuse.”

“But its also about finding out what people are aware of.”

Age UK Bolton Strength and Balance Service Manager Niall Bradley organised the event and was pleased with its success;

“We are very pleased with how popular the event has turned out to be.”

“Improving wellbeing in later life is a key goal of Age UK Bolton and events like this play an important part in that. To get somebody as impressive as Charlotte to speak was fantastic, her depth of knowledge, candour around her personal experiences and out and out passion made the talk fascinating while her friendly, personable demeanour made her the perfect fit to talk to our clients.”

After the event, Charlotte and Tina spoke to local radio station Bolton FM about the event and the importance of safeguarding. The interview will be broadcast on Bolton FM Sport: Tuesday Club on Tuesday 6^th September from 6 pm.