We catch up with Lauren Mudd to hear about her first year as the Breaking Boundaries Bradford Community Coordinator

Breaking Boundaries is a three-year programme (2018 –2021) funded by Spirit of 2012, supported by the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB) and The Institute of Community Cohesion (Icoco).

We catch up with Lauren Mudd and hear about her experiences as the Bradford Coordinator  in 2020.

1. How did your journey with Breaking Boundaries begin and what attracted you to get involved with this role?

My role within Breaking Boundaries began in January 2020 in the interim. Interviews were originally planned to take place in March 2020, however, due to Covid-19, they got postponed until August 2020. I was then successful in my interview and got the full-time position.

2. With the Covid-19 pandemic what kind of new challenges did you face in your role as part of the Breaking Boundaries programme?

This year, we have faced a lot of new challenges. The biggest challenge this year was in April when everything moved over to online platforms. This was a new way of working for majority of people and at the beginning, this became a big challenge for us to overcome. Another challenge was trying to keep online activity engaging and fun, as restrictions in place meant we could not deliver face to face delivery, we had to be creative in the ways we deliver our activities on an online platform.

3. How did you work to support your city in becoming more cohesive and socially connected this year?

Majority of the work we have done this year has been on an online platform. Providing online activity has been a big thing for us all. We have provided online activity to ensure communities still have the opportunities to stay connected. Where possible, as mentioned above, we have provided face to face activities when restrictions allowed it to be possible, following government guidelines closely. All of our social media posts have been posted with the aim of keeping communities connected by sharing as much local information as possible. We have stayed connected with our community groups and are looking forward to planning events NS activities with them for summer 2021.

4. What were your overall highlights for this year of project delivery for Breaking Boundaries?

 Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 we have not been able to deliver activities and work with communities like we normally would. A lot of activities have been postponed / cancelled. However, that being said, we have still managed to have some good highlights throughout the year. I think my highlight for this year in terms of activity we have been able to deliver was working in partnership with Bolly Cric-hit, BPAL Ladies and NAFsfitness to deliver a Women's Softball Festival at Bradford Park Avenue. It was great to see a group of Women and children coming together throughout difficult times and having the opportunity to get involved in something.

5. If you were to summarise your experience of Breaking Boundaries this year in three words what would they be?

Challenging but rewarding