20 Nov Space & Sports – what’s happening in Cockington, Chelston & Livermead

Joey here, talking about Sports and space-related activity. Bringing these two areas of focus together makes me think of the 1996 movie “Space Jam”. This was one of my favourite childhood films featuring the Looney Tunes, Moronic Aliens, Michael Jordon, and other famous basketball legends. An inspiring story of believing you can come back when the odds feel against you, chasing your dreams, rallying together to empower others, and celebrating diversity. I love the power of a good story and how that can resonate, stay with you and motivate you to take positive steps in your life. I have always liked Sports, and I like Space as well.

As you know already, I am also a bit of a geek. All these passions have been passed down to me from my father, an astronomer, sports coach, and comic book collector. Cheers, Dad. I wanted to share some news about the Torbay Astronomical Society. The group are celebrating their 70^th Anniversary. With the support of the Torbay Civic Society, they unveiled a blue plaque at Torquay Town Hall, where they met for almost 30 years. Where they meet now is Torquay Boys Grammar School. The group welcomes visitors and prospective new members. The group meets on two Thursdays each month between September and April. The first Thursday has a lecture-style approach with a guest speaker, and the second involves an observatory evening with telescopes. Members range from aged 10 to people in their 90s. Professor Chris Lintott (Presenter of BBC’s Sky at Night) is coming to give a talk on Thursday, 4^th December, open to the public, and tickets are available via the Torbay Astronomical Society’s website. If you enjoy astronomy, then this could be a great group for you!

From a sports perspective now. I attended the latest Sports Torbay meeting at Torquay Rugby Club and was overjoyed to see the turnout for this. Liz Day gave a fantastic presentation on supporting neurodivergent athletes and coaches. This sparked some great conversations around inclusiveness in sport. I am really looking forward to working more closely with Liz from “Collectively Diverse CIC” in the future, as I know she will be bringing great insight to Torbay and helping us think about how we can get the best out of ourselves and others we are working with. I am really excited for Sport Torbay as a group, as I feel a really strong momentum is building around local sport and physical activity. Do check out Sport Torbay via Facebook for local sporting updates and meetings.