Active Bradford is pleased to welcome Charles Dacres and James Mason as co-chairs of the company, taking over from Wayne Jacobs who has held the position since 2015.

As director of the Hate Crime Alliance and chair of the Windrush Generations group, Charles brings substantial experience to take up the role, as well as his lived experience as a former resident of inner city Bradford. James has always been motivated to make a difference to people's lives through campaigning, creativity and entrepreneurialism. He's led teams at Bradford City AFC and Welcome to Yorkshire and has more recently become CEO of West & North Yorkshire Chamber of Commerce.

Charles and James will lead Active Bradford together, working with partners to create opportunities for future development in sport across the district and will play an integral part in developing the whole systems approach to physical activity. They are coming into the role as the district's physical activity plan is being revised and so will join with the Active Bradford board and decision makers across the Bradford to progress the work:

"Having both grown up and lived in Bradford, we are aware of the challenges and opportunities that exist within the city, especially with regards to being active and accessing sporting facilities. We also know that physical activity and sport has an impact on people's physical and mental health, on the vibrancy of communities, our economy and our personal safety. We believe that more people being active and playing sport will contribute to Bradford being a healthier and more prosperous place to live and work.

"It has never been more important to be active, to build resilience and look after our health. Partners are rallying together and Active Bradford is working with colleagues from the health sector, transport and urban design, community organisations, schools and many more to develop a whole systems approach to physical activity across the Bradford district. We are committed to working in partnership in every sense of the word to provide a platform for everyone, no matter their personal circumstances to identify their own Everest and help them to climb it!"

Charles and James will share responsibilities of the role and will begin straight away.