The latest recruit to the AFC Fylde Community Foundation is fast earning himself a reputation as ‘Mr Motivator’.

Lloyd Paton recently joined the Foundation as Recruitment and Partnerships Officer – a role made possible by the support of Cuadrilla and Spirit Energy.

Since joining the team, enthusiastic Lloyd has been working across the Fylde motivating and educating local communities to get involved in both health and wellbeing and education-based programmes.

By working extensively with a range of partners during the past two months Lloyd has already notched up a number of impressive achievements, investing 320 hours into the local community. These include supporting:

· Over 200 people into health improvement programmes which break down social isolation

· Almost 100 people into a range of community-based education and well-being improvement programmes

· 75 adults and young people living with disabilities into a range of social inclusion-based programmes

· 25 adults into full-time employment in Fylde

· The delivery of over 100 accredited programmes

One of the beneficiaries of the Foundation’s ‘Back on Track’ work is 21-year-old Kasim Hughes who lives in Fylde. During his teenage years, Kasim faced a number of challenges. But through the support offered by the Foundation, and the partnership with Cuadrilla and Spirit Energy, he took part in a 12-week, intense mentoring and wellbeing improvement programme. Following this, he was able to gain employment and even enrol on a college course. Kasim said: “Through the support of Lloyd and the Foundation my life has totally been changed for the better.”

Foundation Director Tom Hutton is proud of the impact Lloyd is having in the local community through the various programmes and is grateful for the support which has made them possible.

He said: “The collaboration with Cuadrilla and Spirit Energy is crucial in the running of key Foundation programmes. The wider social value of our partnership is integral to our organisation and it’s something I’m incredibly proud of and thankful for.”

Francis Egan, CEO of Cuadrilla, said: “It is fantastic to see, within only a few months, the impact Lloyd is having on the Foundation’s work and that our partnership is delivering benefits to people within our local community.

“As a company, we want to support innovative projects that tackle some of the challenges within our society and these programmes are really improving the lives of many in Fylde.”

For more information and news stories please visit www.afcfyldefoundation.co.uk or keep up to date with all our updates on twitter @afcfct.