You wait ages for an Awards Ceremony, and then two come along on the same night! So whilst the Sports Development team yesterday headed to Sheffield for the Fitness Industry Association’s Flame Awards, Aspire’s Housing team were in London for the UK Housing Awards.

The good news came through first – Aspire, together with our partners YMCAfit, took the ‘Spark of Innovation’ award at the FIA event for our groundbreaking Instructability programme. Chief Executive Brian Carlin and Inclusion Manager Hilary Farmiloe were there to collect the award.

Brian was delighted to accept the award on behalf of the Programme, “Aspire created Instructability to give disabled people the opportunity to train and work as fitness instructors. I’m proud to say that we’ve achieved that from the very beginning – this award is clear recognition of our success. But we’re not going to bask in the glory just yet; Aspire and YMCAfit are determined to continue to grow Instructability and give many more disabled people the skills and experience they need to secure employment within the fitness industry.”

Meanwhile, in London, the Housing team unfortunately came away empty handed.  Whilst obviously disappointed – and without wanting to sound too clichéd – the competition in the ‘Specialist Housing Provider of the Year’ category was incredibly strong and we were delighted that Aspire had even made the final cut. The event gave us a chance to discuss future partnerships with Housing Associations from across the UK and, whilst we might not have come away with the award, we did make contacts that could help us acquire more Aspire Houses – that has to be better than any shiny statue.

And, of course, one out of two for the night really is a great result!