SMMC News

SMMC Highly Commended by Motorsport UK

 
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SMMC Highly Commended by Motorsport UK
by SMMC Admin - Sunday, 24 January 2021, 8:18 AM
 

Some good news to share for a change. Motorsport UK has announced that SMMC was highly commended in the 2020 Club and Volunteer of the Year awards. This is fantastic news and a welcome acknowledgment of all the work undertaken by the members of the Club.

SMMC Highly Commended by Motorsport UKSome good news to share for a change.

Motorsport UK has announced that SMMC was highly commended in the 2020 Club and Volunteer of the Year awards. This is fantastic news and a welcome acknowledgment of all the work undertaken by the members of the Club.

The judging panel was impressed with our decision during the early part of the pandemic to purchase a Medical Response Unit (Saltire 99) as a way of addressing the new COVID-19 requirements where a doctor is now unable to travel in a rescue unit at events. This however is only one of the enhancements made during the year to improve the quality of safety services provided on motorsport events:

  • A new Motorsport Medical Group was established and already has more than 70 participants comprising mainly of doctors and paramedics from all parts of the UK. A dedicated website has seen this team grow into a community of interest aimed at fostering relevant information sharing and providing access to a wide range of resources for members.
  • We have continued to support the Scottish Association of Motor Sports Clubs (SAMSC) with its ambitious programme of online training seminars. The sessions targeted at rally marshals regularly had more than 100 attendees, whilst 281 registered for the year end Rescue, Recovery & Medical session in December. It would be virtually impossible to get these numbers physically together in the one location.
  • We started on a programme of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) activity launched with the aim of positioning motorsport to younger audiences with a particular focus on finding an innovative way to energise women in STEM subjects as they currently only provide 15% of engineering graduates. Two of our members become STEM Ambassadors who worked with educational practitioners to align our work with the Curriculum for Excellence. Prior to the first lockdown, sessions in schools gave us direct contact with over 400 children and young people with excellent feedback obtained.

All of this was undertaken at the same time as we positioned ourselves as a Charity so it was also good to use our improved on-line presence to have some ‘down time’ – with weekly coffee mornings and fortnightly quiz evenings bringing together members the length and breadth of the country. Undoubtedly, these virtual social interactions have increased the appeal of the Club to some - and a greater feeling of belonging among many.

SMMC has always prided itself with what we have to offer the sport and our professionalism in attempting to achieve it, and we are grateful that our Governing Body has acknowledged that.

Here’s to an equally successful 2021!