Changing of the Guard at the Herts Sport and Physical Activity Partnership

The Herts Sport & Physical Activity Partnership (HSP) – the Active Partnership for Hertfordshire – has announced that its Director, John O’Callaghan will retire from his post in early April, after 19 years with the Partnership.

For the past 11 years O’Callaghan has been at the helm of the organisation, following an earlier stint as the Partnership’s Deputy Director from 2007.

During that time HSP has established itself as one of the country’s leading Active Partnerships - having been originally set up as a County Sports Partnership in 2003 - and has, over that time, gained a deserved reputation as a highly credible and trusted voice for sport in Hertfordshire, and as the county’s go-to organisation for physical activity.

HSP is an advocate for the power of sport and physical activity, as cost-effective vehicles for social change, around key areas such as health and wellbeing, social inclusion, community cohesion, educational attainment, and community safety and is widely considered to be one of Hertfordshire’s most dynamic and best-connected organisations.

The Partnership has been hosted at the University of Hertfordshire, since its inception, having been created when Hertfordshire’s 10 district and borough councils, and Hertfordshire County Council, came together with the university and the former Hertfordshire Association of Voluntary Sports Clubs to establish itself as a sub-regional arm of Sport England – the government’s agency for sport.

O’Callaghan led the transition of HSP from a County Sports Partnership to an Active Partnership with a renewed focus on using sport and physical activity to counter disadvantage and inequality, and in announcing his retirement, said:

It has been an absolute privilege and a great honour to have been involved with HSP over so many years. It is a fantastic organisation, served by a first-class team and a knowledgeable and supportive Board. It has been an enormous pleasure to have worked with former Chair, the late Grahame Bowles and the current Chair and Vice Chair of the Board, Mervyn Morgan and Hester Hearn.

With the recent appointment of Will Slemmings as the incoming Partnership Director, and with the changes that are afoot at Board level, I leave the Partnership in good hands, and I wish all those involved at staff, Board and stakeholder level, every success for the future. Whilst I will be returning to Wales, to put my feet up and spend time with my lovely grandchildren, I will always be an interested observer - albeit from a distance - on the outstanding work being undertaken daily by those involved in this exceptional organisation.

The period will also see current Chair of the HSP Board, Mervyn Morgan come to the end of his term of office and take up a new role as the President of the Partnership. He will be succeeded as Chair by current Vice Chair, Hester Hearn – whose early responsibilities will include the recruitment of several new Board Members to replace those that will also come to the end of their terms of office this Autumn.

In confirming O’Callaghan’s retirement, Mervyn Morgan said:

John has served the Partnership with distinction, and it has been a pleasure to work alongside him over many years. My fellow Board Members and I wish him well for the future and want to place on record our sincere thanks for his outstanding efforts in helping to make the Partnership what it is today. His will be big shoes to fill, but in Will Slemmings we have another outstanding officer, and we are confident he will continue to build on John’s legacy and oversee the continued development of HSP over the coming years.

Director of Sport at the University of Hertfordshire, David Connell, who will continue to oversee the work of the Partnership on behalf of the host organisation said:

 John has been an inspirational leader and the way in which he has extended the University’s reach across Hertfordshire and beyond, and the relationships that he has forged, have been very impressive. I have thoroughly enjoyed working with him, and on behalf of the University of Hertfordshire want to thank him for the contribution that he has made to university life and to our local communities. His lived experience has made him a champion of the underdog, and the way he has positioned sport as a means of countering inequality and disadvantage amongst some of Hertfordshire’s most underserved communities and vulnerable residents, has been highly commendable. We wish him a long and happy retirement.

 

For further details please contact

Joe Gamble HSP Marketing and Communications Officer: j.gamble2@herts.ac.uk