An international delegation of top military personnel and civil servants were left with a glowing impression of the level and range of community work delivered by the Leeds Rhinos Foundation after visiting Headingley Carnegie Stadium and the TryZone centre as part of a visit to Yorkshire.
The delegation were visiting the county as part of a senior leadership course to further develop their strategic management and analytical skills and received talks at major organisations including the West Yorkshire Police, Leeds City and Bradford Metropolitan District Councils, the BBC, HM Prison Wakefield, Yorkshire Agricultural Society, Leeds General Infirmary and the Local Enterprise Partnership, alongside the Leeds Rhinos Foundation.
All members of the delegation are part of the Royal College of Defence Studies and heard from chief executives, students, union chiefs, police officers and business owners, who gave their opinions on the regional economy, social cohesion and devolution and received a talk and tour of Headingley Carnegie Stadium and TryZone's purpose built education centre from general Manager Davide Longo and Education Programme Manager for TryZone Nigel Wood.
The talk provided the delegates with a chance to see the work of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation first hand, covering the charities aims and objectives within the Rugby League Development plan and the wider work of the club's education projects delivered by TryZone on work place employability and community development.
Members of the college, from all around the world, included senior personnel from the Lebanon, Japan, Germany, Korea, Brazil, United Emirates, Tanzania and Ghana as well as the UK. Their visits looked at governance, industry, education, policing, crime and punishment, communities and the media, during their week in the north.
Anne Crowther of Anne Crowther Public Relations, who accompanied the tour, said the week covered a huge range of activities to give a snapshot of life in Yorkshire.
“The perception before they arrived was that the region had high levels of deprivation and an economy that was struggling.
“Of course there are still issues from a legacy of the recession and long-term deprivation, but the message given by civic and business leaders was that the economy is picking up, and despite savage cuts in public spending, the outlook for the region is a positive one.”
During their visit to the Leeds Rugby Foundation, they were extremely impressed with the work being done with local communities and were very disappointed not to have been able to watch a game.
“They were heartened to see that they work with all sections of the community, and not just young people taking part in sport – but also tackling some harder to reach groups through the use of their educational facilities and specialist counsellors.”
Davide Longo, the General Manager of the Leeds Rhinos Foundation commented:
"It was pleasing to host the delegation of senior officials and future leaders at the stadium and show some of the work we do in the community in trying to change lives through sport. The fact that we were included in the tour as the designated stadium and charity linked to a sports team from all across Yorkshire says a lot about how highly our work is regarded within Leeds and the wider community and i hope the visit provided a good insight into the impact we've had over the last 10 years."