April is Bowel Cancer Awareness Month and with that in mind we have chosen Vicky Fleetwood as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Vicky is a woman of many talents; a former junior hurdler, a personal trainer and a Rugby World Cup winner. She was also part of England’s bronze medal winning sevens squad in the 2018 Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast, she is also a diet and nutrition adviser

Vicky began playing at age 14 after tiring of watching her brother play. She moved to Saracens from Lichfield after the Women’s World Cup in 2014, where she made six appearances. Despite making her Red Roses debut in August 2011 at the age of 21, Vicky had raced to 50 caps by July 2015. She played the 2017 Women’s World Cup and made three appearances off the bench including in the final against New Zealand. Vicky moved to the England Sevens programme for a year in 2017/18 but in 2019 she returned to XVs. She also played in the Women’s Six Nations Grand Slam win that year. She was unavailable for England’s 2019 Super Series campaign due to injury but returned for the start of 2019/20. Vicky was named ‘Player of the Match’ in November’s Quilter International against Italy and shone in the 2020 Six Nations, crossing against Scotland, Ireland and Wales.

She is currently also the Director of Rugby at Old Colfeians Rugby Club in Lee South East London.

Vicky is a Patron for Bowel Cancer UK, she is determined to help raise awareness of the symptons having lost her mother to the disease in 2016 at the age of 62.

To find out more about Vicky see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Victoria_Fleetwood To find out more about Bowel Cancer Awareness Month see here https://www.bowelcanceruk.org.uk/

World Braille Day is on 4 January and with this in mind we have chosen Nigel Limb as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Nigel is an Ambassador for the Wilberforce Trust a charity dedicated to helping those with visual impairment, sight loss, hearing loss and other disabilities across Yorkshire.

He lost most of his sight following a motorbike racing accident in 2015.

His wife was told that an MRI scan had revealed that Nigel had severe brain damage and would most likely die from his injuries within the next few days or be left in a vegetative state. The consultant requested permission to turn off his life support machine and his wife asked if it could be left on over the weekend while she got ready to say goodbye.

Then, on Monday, he woke up. The crash had caused major sight loss and Nigel had to face the loss of his business running a garage and as a floating MOT Tester. There were some tough times ahead. Despite his sight loss, you couldn’t keep Nigel off a bike for long. He had the skill, he had the muscle memory and when Scunthorpe Speedway invited him to get back on a bike he completed six laps to tremendous applause.

For the Wilberforce Trust, Nigel is an amazing Ambassador. He is living proof that life doesn’t end when you lose your sight. It doesn’t have to mean the end of your hopes and dreams and your passion for your favourite hobby. With the right support and adaptation, life can still be full of fun and happiness as well as the challenges and frustrations that come with any disability.

Now known as the “Blind Bloke Racing” Nigel has made a documentary with his wife Julie about their experience and he has appeared at different biker’s events telling his story. Being a fantastic role model for visually impaired people was never Nigel’s plan but he has shown by his example, his courage and his determination that he can bring hope to other people facing sight loss.

To find out more about Nigel see here https://www.wilberforcetrust.org.uk/

To find out more about world Braille day see here https://www.un.org/en/observances/braille-day

International Day of Persons with Disabilities is on 3 December.  With that in mind we have chosen Kevin Sinfield as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the month.

Kevin is a former rugby league player, captain and Director of Rugby for Leeds Rhinos who he spent his entire career playing for.  He captained Leeds to seven Super League Championships and two Challenge Cup successes.  He holds the record as the highest points scorer in Super League history, the third highest points scorer in British rugby league history and is Leeds’ record points scorer. He also represented England and Great Britain.  His last match was in the 2015 Super League Grand Final captaining Leeds to victory.

In 2021 Kevin became the defence coach of the Rugby Union side Leicester Tigers following his retirement from playing union for Yorkshire Carnegie.

His great friend Rob Burrow was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease in 2019, he and Kevin played together for Leeds Rhinos for many years, since then Kevin has been raising money for MND through various challenges the latest one (which has just finished) was to run 7 Ultra Marathons in 7 days.  He started in Edinburgh and finished at Old Trafford during the Rugby League Mens World Cup Final.  The route covered locations that resonated with Rob, ex footballer Stephen Darby and former Rugby Union player Doddie Weir who all have MND.  The funds raised will be shared between 5 charities supporting people impacted by the condition.  To date the challenge has raised £1,350,000.

In 2014 Kevin was awarded an MBE for services to rugby league and an OBE in 2021 for services to rugby league and charitable fund raising.

To find out more about Kevin see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kevin_Sinfield

To find out more about MND see here https://www.mndassociation.org/ To find out more about International Day of Persons with Disabilities see here https://www.un.org/en/observances/day-of-persons-with-disabilities

World Diabetes Day is 14 November and with that in mind we have chosen Dominic Littlewood as our Inspirational Diversity Champion of the Month.

Dominic is a British journalist and television presenter who specialises in consumer protection. He is best known for his roles with BBC and 

Channel 5, presenting programmes such as Fake Britain, Cowboy Builders and Bad Builders: Bang to Rights.

Since 2016 he has presented Dom on the Spot on BBC On and he has appeared in other television shows including To Buy or Not to Buy, Holiday and The One Show.  In 2007 Dom took part in Strictly Come Dancing and in 2020 he appeared on Celebrity Masterchef.

He also writes for Top Gear Magazine and the Motoring Section of the Daily Telegraph and is an expert on used Nissan Qashqais and Jukes.

Dominic is diabetic, having been diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes as a child, he has lived with Type 1 Diabetes for 40 years and in that time has had as many as 20,000 hypos.  He is a supporter of the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation.

To find out more about World Diabetes Day see here https://worlddiabetesday.org/

To find out more about the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation see here https://jdrf.org.uk/