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Bamford Recreation Ground, Bamford Northern Sports and Families Day  Over the last few months SPARTA have negotiated with the Department for Education, access to their Northern Sports and Families Day for all our regional staff.   The event is open to all civil service departments in the surrounding region. It is a good opportunity for cross government networking and wellbeing engagement.  If you are based in Darlington, Gateshead, Manchester, Nottingham, Newcastle, Sheffield or Leeds and fancy taking part in their event then details are below. An update on the London Sports Day will be made in the next few weeks   DfE Northern Sports and Families Day    Date and time: Thursday 10 July, 13:00 onwards   Venue: Bamford Recreation Ground, Bamford, Hope Valley, S33 0DA   Activities: DfE will be hosting a range of events noted below  Event and activities Off-road mountain biking – beginner to advanced excursions is being organised to explore the Peak District terrain. Members need to bring their own bike.  2 hour moderate hike – bring sturdy footwear and water proof cover/ high wicking / quick drying clothing for rain. Jeans and sandals will be unsuitable footwear for the terrain. The walk is suitable for individuals in good health but not those with heart complaints or mobility constraints.  Football tournament – bring appropriate boots and kit  Rounders tournament – scratch team will be picked from interested members.  Welly wanging – fun games  End of event quiz – bring your knowledge – pen and paper will be provided  Charitable catering – food and drink will be provided for a small donation to a local charity. Typically, this is Edale Mountain Rescue.  How to enter   Please contact Jon Holman for sign up details at jonathan.holman@education.gov.uk Note:  We understand the Northern event falls on a school day, so children are welcome to join after school hours.   Bamford Recreational Ground has limited shelter cover – therefore staff are encouraged to bring a gazebo for cover and / or waterproof coat in case of inclement weather.

Runners from across the regions and across DfT and MHCLG came together to compete at the Civil Service Cross Country Championships on 16th October at Parliament Hill Fields in London. The Civil Service Cross Country Championships has a long history dating back over 100 years. Over that period there have been many individual winners from both DfT and MHCLG and their predeceasing Departments but rarely have our departments won a team trophy. The team trophies have been dominated by the likes of the MoD, DEFRA and other larger Departments. So, it was a huge achievement for our Men’s team to win the team trophy last Wednesday on a bright sunny day at Parliament Hill Fields. Parliament Hill Fields is part of Hamstead Heath and appears in many films and TV series so if you visited it, you would recognise the area and wouldn’t be surprised if you found yourself imagining Hugh Grant walking along the very footpaths that you are using. As you can expect with a name like Parliament Hill the cross country course was rather hilly and a good test for any runner undertaking the 8km course but that didn’t stop our runners for showing what they are capable of doing. The SPARTA team was led home by David Taylor who finished 2nd in a time of 31 minutes 32 seconds, next in was Luke Watson in 4th place, closely followed by Richard Wall in 5th. With 4 runners to complete the team it was a nervous wait for our final scoring runner who was Matt King who finished in a fantastic 21st place with George Plemper (24th) Thomas Speed (25th) and Simon Cereda (29th) only a few seconds behind him it was a real race to be the teams fourth scorer. David Taylor not only took home the silver medal for finishing second but was also the first runner aged 35 or over home so took the gold medal in his age group. It was great to see runners of all ages competing, the oldest was in the over 70’s age group so it was truly an event for everyone. Full results of our runners are below : Results 2 David Taylor (98) 4 Luke Watson (108) 5 Richard Wall (105) 21 Matt King (49) 24 George Plemper (77) 25 Thomas Speed (92) 29 Simon Cereda (20) 48 Ben Toogood (101) 52 Dan Lineham (56) 53 Miles Knight (50) 58 Simon Birks (12) 74 Peter Brohan (14) 78 Maciej Idzikowski (42) 81 Tim Roast (83)

An announcement from the SPARTA Chair I am writing to let you know that, after around 6 years as Chair of SPARTA, I will be stepping down at the end of September. I am delighted to say that I do so with my successor Nick Adams, a Department for Transport Deputy Director based in Great Minster House, already in place. Nick is passionate about SPARTA and keen to ensure the Association continues to be as relevant in the future as it was when it was first established over 50 years ago. I will be sorry to step down but, as many of you know, for the last three years I have been Chair whilst on secondment to the National Shipbuilding Office (NSO) based in the Ministry of Defence. We have made it work but, not being located in either DfT or MHCLG, has undoubtedly been a drawback. Then, earlier this year, I became the new Chief Executive of the NSO which means formally moving to the Ministry of Defence. I therefore feel this is the right time for me to step down with Nick able to bring fresh ideas and direction to the role. I truly believe in the vital contribution that SPARTA makes to health and wellbeing. SPARTA only exists thanks to the selfless dedication, commitment and passion of all of you. I am grateful to you all for the sizeable, and often under the radar, contribution you make. I truly hope that the Association will continue to flourish. Regrettably securing funding support will, I believe, get increasingly challenging requiring us to determinedly keep on trying to grow our own membership and be as self-sufficient as possible. Your role in achieving that is vital. I am a minor member of the SPARTA Executive team and want to thank Sue who has been both an incredible Deputy Chair and great support throughout my time and long before me too! As many of you know Sue has been retired for several years now but continues to play an active role as Deputy Chair and in the Yoga Club. However, Sue will step down by the end of the year. I know that Nick and Jason are taking forward the recruitment of a Deputy Chair as a matter of urgency, with an interest in securing greater Regional Office representation, but open to all expressions of interest. I am also eternally grateful to Paul Jones who, as our voluntary Treasurer, has put our finances on a stable position and has been constantly committed to SPARTA despite some very challenging personal circumstances. Finally, of course, I am grateful to Jason Marchant who, as our General Secretary, is the key member of our Executive and the driver of our day-to-day activity including the significant efforts he makes to deliver our annual Sport and Wellbeing Day. He is also the frequent recipient of my “good ideas” which he receives with calmness and good humour! I am grateful to all three and will miss our twice weekly meetings. I hope that I leave SPARTA in a better position than when I started. I would like to have devoted more time to the Association and spent more time out and about at events but I hope I have made a positive contribution nonetheless. In my time, I am proudest of the meaningful role SPARTA played during Covid, even if in a small way, supporting the health and wellbeing of our staff in an incredibly challenging time for everyone personally and professionally. I am proud too of the way our clubs and societies have re-started and flourished as the pandemic ended, long may that continue. I wish everyone the best and I am sure I will see you around. I will be happily wearing my SPARTA running top still available and reasonably priced so get in touch with Jason before they sell out! Kind regards Rod

The SPARTA Sport and Wellbeing Day 2024 took place on 2nd August 2024. Teams and participants from locations across the country from both the DfT and MHCLG descended on the Kings House School Sports Ground in Chiswick for a day of team building, wellbeing and most importantly fun. This was 5th in a series of sports days being held in 2024 as part of a scheme run by the Civil Service Sports Council, (CSSC) developed to bring as many of the Government Departments Sports Days together to reduce the overall costs of providing these events. The SPARTA Sport and Wellbeing is totally funded by the SPARTA members and CSSC. Without the support of both of these group’s SPARTA would not be able to host a Sport and Wellbeing Day. If you are interested in helping to keep our wonderful event going in future years, then why not join SPARTA it only costs £2 a month. Details can be found at https://www.spartarecreation.co.uk/join-us The day was blessed with the perfect weather for sporting events. Plenty of sunshine but not too hot to make it unbearable. As it was slightly later in the year this time many of the people attending decided, as it was during the school holidays, to bring their children along to enjoy the day. The bouncy castle assault course was particularly popular with the children and adults alike with races taking place all day long down the course. SPARTA had once again procured the Caribbean Melody Steel Band who provided summery music all day in what was to be their farewell performance as they were hanging up their instruments following the performance and retiring from the music scene. We wish them all the best in their retirement. As always at Sport and Wellbeing Day we held four main competitions, Football, Netball, Cricket and Rounders, which all require the teams to pre-enter a few weeks in advance; along with a number of other sports and recreations that could be entered on the day, such as tennis, pétanque, track and field athletics, touch rugby, table tennis, darts, a quiz night and the always popular Tug O’ War. The results for all of the events can be found on the SPARTA website at https://www.spartarecreation.co.uk/sparta-sports-day-results As always there were medals available on the day which created a bit of a competitive edge mixed in with the fun of the day. Medals were presented at the end of the day by Nick Joyce, the Director of the DfT Corporate Delivery Group, who is a big supporter of the work of SPARTA. We thank him for his help. If you won medals in any event and were unable to pick them up on the day and would still like to receive them then please contact Jason Marchant jason.marchant@dft.gov.uk Above; Makan Marauders from the DfT Birmingham Office celebrate winning the cricket. All are wearing pink bucket hats from a Syrian fast-food shop in Birmingham called Makan. Our official photographer, Paul Weekes (DfT), has provided us with a selection of superb pictures which are available on our website at https://www.spartarecreation.co.uk/sparta-sports-day-gallery  Feel free to take a look and see if you feature in any of them. We couldn’t have held the day without the help of our brilliant volunteers, along with the staff of Kings House School and Sports Society who did so much to help the day run smoothly. We thank everyone for the help. We would also like to send a big thank you to CSSC for allowing SPARTA to be part of their Sports Day scheme. Our biggest thank you goes out to all those that attended along with their friends and families who made the day such a huge success. We have received several sets of feedback saying that you were by far the best behaved of all of the Sports Day’s held at the KHS Sports Ground. We hope that you all had a fantastic day and left with some great memories. Roll on the 2025 SPARTA Sport and Wellbeing Day. If you are interested in what SPARTA provides why not check out our website at https://www.spartarecreation.co.uk/  If you have any feedback from the event, please feel free to contact SPARTA at SPARTA@dft.gov.uk

We are are extremely excited that SPARTA Deputy Chair, Sue Johnson has received a MBE in the New Year honours. We offer her our warmest congratulations on receiving this well-deserved honour for all her incredible hard work over such a long period of time. On receiving the award Sue said, “I am absolutely delighted and deeply honoured to receive this award. “I would particularly like to thank my friends and colleagues from SPARTA who have supported and assisted me as deputy chair. I could not have done it without them.”

SPARTA are very happy to announce that the SPARTA 50th anniversary Sports and Wellbeing Day will take place on Friday 22nd July 2022. We are planning a special SPARTA 50th anniversary Sports and Wellbeing Day this summer. We have booked the Kings House School Sports Ground in Chiswick for Friday 22nd July 2022, so please put the date in your diary. This will be a great day to rebuild the social community across both Departments by bringing teams together for a day of healthy activities and to help improve the wellbeing of all staff and their families. We will be holding all the usual sporting activities like football, softball, and netball along with all the fun events such as wanging the wellie, the sack race, and the egg and spoon race. We are planning a day of enjoyment that will bring happy memories to all. Start putting your teams together and brushing off your sports gear. I look forward to seeing you at Sports Day.

SPARTA Deputy Chair, Sue Johnson has announced that she is due to retire on 17th December. We will be very sad to see her go. Sue has been the Deputy Chair for over 7 years now and has devoted an enormous amount of her own time to ensure that the staff of the DLUHC and DfT have a considerable amount of sport, recreation, and wellbeing opportunities available to them all and this through one of the most difficult challenging times that our association has ever faced. When Sue took over SPARTA was in a perilous condition. Thanks to her commitment and hard work, she leaves the association in a very healthy position. We thank Sue for all her hard work not just as Deputy Chair but also for the many years previous to that working with the yoga club providing yoga classes to our members and both Departments. We are currently looking for a replacement. If you are interested in the post, you can download a copy of the job description from our home page. We wish Sue all the best in her retirement

As normal life starts to ‘hopefully’ resume and the summer season gets closer I wanted to give you a quick update on what SPARTA, your Sports and Recreation Association, and the SPARTA clubs have been doing and have on offer over the next few months. President Role We are delighted to announce that in this, our 50th anniversary year, both Bernadette Kelly and Jeremy Pocklington have agreed to jointly share the role of SPARTA President through to the end of 2022. We look forward to involving them over the coming 18 months as SPARTA celebrates this special anniversary The Future of SPARTA We want SPARTA to remain relevant and buoyant for the next 50 years and beyond and so we have just launched a survey on the future of SPARTA. The survey can be accessed here and takes only 5 minutes to complete: SPARTA SURVEY We look forward to hearing your views in our survey Sports and Wellbeing Day We had hoped to have a special SPARTA 50th anniversary Sports and Wellbeing Day this summer, however, planning and delivering a mass event given the current gradual re-opening is extremely challenging. We have therefore, with the agreement of both Perm Secs, reluctantly decided to postpone the event until 2022. We assure you that next year’s event, which will be held at Chiswick, will be a special event for all. SPARTA Clubs Despite the disappointment of cancelling the Sports and Wellbeing Day, we are delighted that many of our SPARTA Clubs and Societies are already holding events. The SPARTA Golf Society held a very successful first meeting of the year on 22 April at Pine Ridge Golf Club. Their next event is planned for 28 May. Superstars Cricket Club have held several matches and have a full line up of fixtures planned throughout the summer. The SPARTA History Society is holding monthly talks. Their next planned talk is on 11 May when Dr Eleanor Janega will give a talk on “The Black Death”. The name alone gives us a reminder of the deadliness of previous pandemics. Following that on 15 June will be a talk on “The Rise and Fall of the Sikh Kingdom” given by Dr Priya Atwal. The Civil Service Choir is still functioning in virtual mode but is making plans for new ways of operating as the covid restrictions relax further. These are details of just a few of the SPARTA clubs’ activities. If you are interested in joining a club then follow the links to the clubs on the website menu above.

SPARTA are proud to announce that we will be hosting another Virtual Activity Week on 25th to 29th January 2021. Initial events announced include: "Virtual Lunch" with Double Olympic Champion, Iain Percy (pictured below) "Hot Jazz" dance class with Nikki Santilli History Society Talk on the mysteries of the Bayeux Tapestry "At Your Desk" Yoga class with yoga teacher, Sue Johnson Circuit Training with GB Athletics Team Coach, Jason Marchant Keep an eye on our website for more details as they become available

SPARTA are pleased to announce the launch of a new monthly newsletter. Check it out using the link on our homepage. We intend to bring you regular SPARTA updates and articles using the newsletter. If you have anything that you wish to be included in the newsletter please get in touch by email at SPARTA@dft.gov.uk

SPARTA are pleased to announce that from 21st to 25th September 2020 we will be running a virtual activity week. The week will include a number of live events along with events that can be done in your own time. The live events include: Yoga Class History Society Event Mindfulness Session Quiz Circuit Training Class All events are free and open to all SPARTA members, DfT and MHCLG staff and their families. Keep a look out for other announcements regarding the week

Due to the outbreak of Covid 19 Fit For Business Day has been cancelled for this year, but will be back better than ever next year. Put the date in your diary 23 June 2021 #SPARTAsportsday