Beat the Street game coming to Burnley next week

Beat the Street is a community initiative designed to get people moving by walking, cycling or running around their area in a bid to score points for their school or community team.

However, players can also donate their points to the dedicated Mayor’s Charity Fund team – they will be given a target number of points that they must earn collectively to be in with a chance of winning £200 per charity.

The mayor’s charities are Derian House Children’s Hospice, SafeNet and the Barry Kilby Prostate Cance Appeal. Each could benefit from the popular walking, cycling and rolling game that takes place across the town from Wednesday, 15th September to Wednesday, 27th October.

Mick Croskery, fund-raising manager at Derian House Children’s Hospice, said: “We are delighted to be one of the chosen Beat the Street Burnley charities. Without support like this, we simply wouldn’t be able to offer our services to many children and families across the northwest of England.”

The Barry Kilby Prostate Cancer Appeal aims to save men's lives with simple PSA blood testing events at local sports grounds to screen for prostate cancer. Janine Compton, Project Manager, said: “We are delighted to be chosen as one of the charities that will benefit from everyone’s hard work that take part in Beat the Street. It’s a brilliant initiative and it gets people up and active again after many people haven’t been able to get out in the last year due to Covid.

"The money raised will go towards our upcoming test days at Burnley FC which really do save lives; we are extremely grateful for everyone’s support and efforts.”

SafeNet provides domestic abuse services and refuge. Alex Atkinson, Head of Support Service at SafeNet said: "We're extremely grateful to be chosen as one of the charities supported by Beat the Street. We rely heavily on donations to help us deliver our services across the northwest, and this will help us to continue to support our residents, who usually access our services with only the belongings they could carry."

Beat the Street is a popular physical activity challenge that encourages the whole community to get active together. More than 100 Beat Boxes will be installed in locations around Burnley which players will use to score points as they travel as far as possible by walking, running, cycling or rolling around the game area.

Players will simply need to hover their Beat the Street game cards or fobs over a Beat Box to start their journey, and can score points for themselves and their team for each Beat Box they swipe in the next hour. The teams that travel the furthest will win prizes of vouchers for books or sports equipment.

Beat the Street Burnley is brought to you by Burnley Together with the Canal & River Trust. It is delivered by Intelligent Health.

Burnley Together works in partnership with Burnley Council, Calico Homes, Lancashire County Council, Burnley Leisure, Burnley FC in the Community, BPRCVS and other partners across the public, private, and voluntary sectors to create a central community hub.

Initially established to help and support residents across the borough during the coronavirus outbreak with everyday needs, Burnley Together has become a pivotal point of contact for support enquiries across a wide range of issues.

For more information about the game, the charities, and where to collect a free Beat the Street card and map, visit www.beatthestreet.me/burnley or follow @BTSBurnley on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.