A FLINTSHIRE leisure firm is celebrating after scooping an award.

The Aura Sports Development team has been named the winner of the Street Games award for Outstanding contributions to Community Safety.

This award centres upon organisations that are helping to keep young people safe whilst supporting those that are at risk of crime and antisocial behaviour.

Former England cricketer and TV personality Phil Tufnell announced Aura as the winner via a video posted on Street Games’ Twitter page.

The Aura Sports Development team works extremely hard to provide opportunities for children and young people throughout Flintshire to engage in sport and active recreation in a safe and encouraging environment.

Striving to deliver a high quality service and working effectively with partner organisations has resulted in marked increases in participation, particularly in recent years.

Aura’s focus on community safety was praised by Street Games who expressed their admiration of Aura’s “unique and creative efforts including a recent anti-knife crime festival which gave at-risk young people the chance to interact with several youth justice figures as part of a laid back day of activities”.

Speaking on behalf of the whole Aura team, Sian Williams, leisure development manager for Aura Wales, said: "The work the sports development team delivers has evolved over many years across Flintshire and ensures that we are flexible and responsive enough to enable everyone in the community to take part in sport.

"This programme is truly collaborative and has grown significantly over the last 18 months, working with an array of key partners to tackle a wide range of community needs through sport and, most importantly, making a difference to those that participate.

"We are all incredibly proud of the work that employees, volunteers and coaches do in the Sports Development team. Long may it continue and sincere congratulations.’’