Light Up!

Who are we?

thePoint4 is a gym, fitness and conference centre based in the city of Hereford, and a national centre of excellence for para sports.

It is owned and run by The Royal National College for the Blind (RNC), a registered charity. https://www.rnc.ac.uk/

All income generated from gym memberships, facilities hire and sporting events at thePoint4 supports training for young people with a visual impairment at RNC.

This unique public centre, used by RNC students, is also a place for community and friendship, inclusivity, learning and leisure. A place to bring people together, no matter their age.

Our centre is a hub of activity and opportunity and we pride ourselves in being at the heart of the community providing an accessible space that is valued and supported by the people of Herefordshire.

How our project relates with United by Birmingham 22

Our centre and sports hall provides a space for young people to engage in sport at all levels from across the West Midlands and further afield. Like the Commonwealth Games we embrace diversity and inclusivity. https://www.birmingham2022.com/united/ 

We encourage all young people to participate in sports that offer disabled and non-disabled young people the opportunity to play together and for students of RNC to rise to elite level in para sports like Goalball and Blind Football. 

Following the 2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham, the IBSA World Games are taking place in 2023 also in Birmingham. This is the world's biggest gathering of athletes with visual impairments and for some is the highest level they can compete at outside of the Paralympics. We hope to see some of our students and ex-students taking part in Blind Football, Partially sighted football and Goalball at the Games. 

Community impact

thePoint4 centre is used widely by our local community as well as across Hereford and nationally. 

Visually impaired sports; Goalball and Partially Sighted Football teams use the hall regularly for practice, games and competitions. In addition, students from RNC and other visually impaired young people from across the UK also use the hall for trying out sports like golf, cricket, judo and tennis, goalball on residential weekends. 

Local schools, colleges and sports clubs use the hall including 

• Herefordshire Netball Junior and Adult Leagues 
• the Table Tennis Association
• Hereford and Ludlow College 
• local football clubs 
• local Cheerleading teams 

The hall also hosts a range of national competitions including Judo, BJJ, Goalball.

The hall provides a weather proof environment for people in the community to practice their sport year round so there is never a cancelled practice, game or match. 

Why are we crowdfunding?

We need to replace the lighting in our large sports hall with LED lighting. This will have a big impact on our carbon footprint making savings both environmentally and economically. We calculate a saving of 29,423kgCO2e per year which roughly equates to 175,000 km driven in a diesel car. 

It will also improve continuity in the hall as we will have less maintenance requirements causing disruption to users. For our Table Tennis Association users there is also a significant benefit as it means that brighter lighting would allow the hosting of National championships or Grand Prix (which attract top national and some international players).  It could also potentially provide suitable conditions to host International level tournaments.

Income from thePoint4 goes towards supporting young people who are blind or have a visual impairment. Whilst we also try to ensure that we maintain our facilities from this income the pandemic has been a difficult time. As a public gym and sporting centre we had to close the facility over much of Covid in 2020 and 2021 and this meant we had no income in that time. The project will cover the cost of the removal of existing lighting and installation of the new system of LED lighting. With the hall being the equivalent of three storeys high, this is no small operation and will involve qualified cherry picker operatives and electricians.

How we’ll spend the money raised

The money raised will be used to dismantle existing lighting and purchase and install LED lighting across the Sports Hall. This is a total of 60 replacement fittings. 

As LED lights use less power than traditional sources, the overall kW/hr consumption per year is less, and will, therefore, reduce the overall CO2 emissions of the sports hall. 

This also results in lower electricity costs and the long lifespan of LED means reduced maintenance costs. Thus, there are considerable savings for thePoint4 involved in switching to LED lighting. These savings will directly benefit the students of RNC. 

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Create a fundraiser of your own. Use the button on our page to get started. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!