The annual celebration pays tribute to those who show dedication at a range of sporting, health, and wellbeing activities at all levels, and those who work tirelessly to support individuals or community clubs, for the love of the sport or their community.
Winners were announced at a glittering ceremony at Burnley Mechanics hosted by have-a-go BBC sports presenter and former Strictly Come Dancing contestant, Mike Bushell.
Mike is well known for presenting bulletins on TV and radio and has personally sampled nearly 400 different sports and activities during his Saturday morning slot on BBC Breakfast.
His wealth of experience of covering big sporting events includes reporting and presenting on the Olympics, Paralympics, Winter Olympics, football World Cups, Asian Games and the Commonwealth Games, where an interview with English swimmers went viral when he fell in a swimming pool during a live interview on BBC Breakfast.
Scroll down to see the full list of winners:
9. Active Burnley Awards 2024 – Contribution to Active Communities
New Neighbours Together Project represented by Waheed Rashid, Community Development Manager, Mohammad Haidari, General Manager, Wes Winchester, Sports Activator, and Ruth Haygarth, Chief Executive. New Neighbours Together (NNT) is a charity offering a holistic range of services to support asylum-seekers and refugees in Burnley. It helps to mitigate and overcome barriers by offering ESOL (English for speakers of other languages) classes, a free social drop in café, free hot meals, advice and advocacy, women’s programmes, and relief from food and fuel poverty through its welfare programme. The project has become increasingly conscious of the positive effects on people’s health of regular exercise. Funding from Sport England has enabled NNT to deliver sport and exercise activities with added value by including ESOL and healthy living, skills for life courses. The project helps clients to improve and maintain their physical and mental health, giving them an enjoyable outlet from stress and negativity, improving their ‘feelgood factor’ and knowledge, growing confidence levels and giving them resilience to build safe and happy lives in Burnley. Photo: ANDY FORD
10. Active Burnley Awards 2024 – Lifetime Achievement Award
Allan Clarkin. The climax of the evening was the Lifetime Achievement Award for someone who has shown a commitment of at least 20 years to sport and active lifestyles, won by Allan Clarkin, one of Britain’s longest-serving martial arts coaches, who has been tutoring young fighters for more than 50 years. Allan, founder of Burnley’s Black Knight gym, recognises the importance of combat sports for young men on the precipice of a life of crime or mental health issues and provides a safe environment for them to take out their aggression and open up about their problems. Well-respected far-and-wide, Allan has been inducted into the Black Belt Hall of Fame and most recently was presented with the British Empire Medal for his work and the significant difference he has made in the Burnley community. Although he said he would retire at 65, Allan is now coaching the children of some of his first students! Despite recent health issues, Allan continues to turn up for his students daily, battling through with grace and humour. Photo: ANDY FORD