Save Defiant Sports

Who are Defiant Sports?

Defiant Sports are a Community Interest Company that provides fully inclusive access to a variety of sports regardless of ability or disability. Defiant Sports work tirelessly in supporting those with barriers to participation within the community. 

This vital service is now under threat due to council actions.

What has happened?

After putting over £75,000 worth of clearance and renovation works into the derelict Fort Fun site in Eastbourne, and having been reassured that we had a short term lease in place, Eastbourne Borough Council told us in December 2023 that they no longer wish to work with us on the Fort Fun site, withdrawing our lease with immediate effect. This has left us without a venue to host our accessible sports sessions for people with disabilities, and is hugely damaging to our financial situation. You can read more about the Fort Fun lease withdrawal and sign our petition here.

Having put our time, money and community efforts into what we thought was the future of Defiant Sports, we are now in a situation where we have no venue to move to, and our lease on our current venue is fourteen months out of term. We had trust in the council that we would be able to rehouse our services at the Fort Fun site, and they have now wasted not only Defiant Sports and our community members' time in clearance work on this site, but also the time and support in-kind of local businesses.

Defiant Sports are now at risk of closure due to this decision by Eastbourne Borough Council. Not only will this impact our staff, but more importantly it will leave our service users without anywhere to go for both socialisation and physical activity. There is no one who offers services like ours locally, and very little nationwide, meaning the disabled community are once again left without any support or safe spaces. From the service users themselves, to their parents, family members, and primary carers, there will be so many people impacted by the loss of Defiant Sports.

Why are we doing this Crowdfunder?

The aim of this Crowdfunder is to help Defiant Sports continue, and grow, its provision. Our aim originally was to find a new home for our community, and we had been currently viewing and researching various venue spaces. 

We have been in continuous talks with Eastbourne Borough Council, who have now found somewhere for us to continue our sessions!

We have been given a 25 year lease on part of the Archery Recreational Ground!

 

By having this length of lease, Defiant Sports and the vulnerable community we serve will no longer be at risk from landlords or the council ending their agreements with us at short notice. This stability is vital to our community members, and having our own venue space would mean we could properly invest in the space to create a longterm, sustainable home for disability and inclusive sport. For instance, creating another changing spaces toilet similar to the one in our Inclusion Hub, ensuring the space is fully physically and mentally accessible to all, and building permanent infrastructure like a multi-use games area and indoor courts for multi-sports or growing inclusive sports such as padel. Please see our update page for more information on our plans for the site!

Community Impact

The repairs will allow us to use the building as a Community Hub, open to anyone and everyone, much like the current Inclusion Hub. It will house our table top games, areas for people in the community to meet and will lead into our toilets, changing spaces, offices, storage and sports hall.

This kicks starts the bigger projects and enables us to create provision that is currently lacking within East Sussex, Eastbourne and our community, supporting everyone in increasing their mobility, meeting new people in an inclusive, safe and accessible environment. It gives us the ability to improve facilities currently available to support those with complex needs in overcoming the barriers to their sports participation. 

As part of the wider project, we want to start a community garden and orchard to support our Community Fridge, supporting and improving the food poverty within Eastbourne, by growing and harvesting our own fruits and veg.

How can you help?

We are asking for your support to ensure that Defiant Sports can continue its provision. We are now operating on a very reduced timetable to lower costs as much as we can, but we can only carry on even at this level for a limited amount of time without having to fully shut down. It is vital that we have your donations in order to keep supporting these individuals, who are so often ignored and left out of so many aspects of everyday life - in particular sports. Help us to make it through this tough time to ensure the future sustainability of Defiant Sports.

Thank you 

from Team Defiant!