HSP Annual Partners Event Celebrates Inclusion and Impact Across Hertfordshire

On Friday 10^th July, HSP was delighted to host its Annual Partners Event at the University of Hertfordshire’s Prince Edward Hall, bringing together community partners from across Hertfordshire to connect, share, celebrate the transformative powers of sport and physical activity and tackle this year’s theme of Inclusive Activity in Hertfordshire. Going Further, Faster.

The event kicked off with an inspiring video address from none other than Baroness Tanni-Grey Thompson, ex-Paralympian, Crossbench Peer in the House of Lords and Broadcaster who highlighted the barriers she has faced, progress made and the importance of events such as this to bring together key partners with a shared purpose to spotlight and focus on what there is still to do to make sport truly inclusive.

Attendees heard from a variety of inspirational, sector-leading keynote speakers who all shared powerful insights and thought-provoking perspectives on how sport and physical activity can be inclusive to everyone.

• Viveen Taylor, Director of Equality Diversity and Inclusion in Sport, Sport England provided insights into EDI & Sport from the national perspective.
• Scott Hartley, CEO & Founder of Press Red provided a local picture highlighting the key statistics and trends of activity levels when comparing various EDI measures with Hertfordshire specific data.
• Ella Beaumont, founder of EllaBeePT, EllaBeeInspire & a Wheel Power instructor finished with a challenging and thought-provoking speech from her lived experience.

Delegates also heard from the team behind the partnership’s No Limits 2026 campaign – Hertfordshire’s Year of Disability Sport & Physical Activity. With the excellent acheivements so far spotlighted in a highlights video which followed an inspiring Q&A panel featuring four of the campaign’s ambassadors. Partners were asked to keep the momentum going and continue to advocate for the campaign in their respective settings for the remaining 6 months.

As the event concluded, attendees were invited to add to the Hertfordshire ‘Wall of Inclusion’ to declare a learning, reflection, take-away or pledge of a small act of inclusive practice they are going to take back to their day-to-day work.

Responses included:

I am going to connect with Sense to help our elderly and vulnerable clients feel inclusive during our exercise sessions. This will help our visually impaired and hard of hearing clients feel included, valued and improve their emotional and physical wellbeing

See the ability, not the disability - Ask if you do not know! Better to try something, than nothing at all!

Being inclusive excludes no-one

Train Hertfordshire Health Walk Leaders as 'Sighted Guide Leaders' for visually impaired walkers

Delegates were also able to network with an interactive marketplace which featured some amazing organisations delivering inclusive work and exhibiting various examples of inclusive equipment. The marketplace featured No Limits 2026 campaign partners Herts Disability Sports Foundation and Activity Alliance, alongside Hertfordshire Community Foundation, the National Paralympic Heritage Trust, Sense, Dwarf Sport, WheelPower, SPACE and CIMSPA.

With over 150 attendees the event was a great success and provided a fantastic opportunity to meet with a wide range of organisations, hear about the incredible impact made over the past 12 months, and see the breadth of work being done to tackle inequality and disadvantages in our communities.

Feedback from the event was overwhelmingly positive, with participants highlighting the inspiring speakers, engaging discussions and valuable networking opportunities.

Nikki Evans, No Limits 2026 Ambassador panelist said:

What a great event, thank you so much for getting me on the Ambassador panel and also for asking me to deliver the energiser. It was so great to show everyone how adaptive yoga really is

Attendee Graham Keen, LTA Delivery Manager commented:

A great event, fantastic speakers and helpful networking opportunity

The event also celebrated the county’s shared successes, with HSP’s 2025–26 Annual Impact Report highlighting the wide-ranging impact and achievements made possible through collaborative partnership working.

HSP looks forward to building on this momentum with partners in the months ahead, helping to make sport and physical activity more inclusive and accessible for everyone.

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Find out more about the No Limits 2026 campaign here.