Lady Mary addresses City Hall guests
NATIONAL Treasure Lady Mary Peters and her Trust delivered one big thank-you to athletes, sponsors and supporters at a special event held at Belfast City Hall to mark the 50th anniversary year of the sports charity.
From small beginnings in 1975, and working alongside a fundraising bid to create the now famous Mary Peters Track, Mary and a team of like-minded sports people set up the Ulster Sports and Recreation Trust.
Garnering support and essential funding, the group driven forward by Dr John Moore, made its first athlete funding awards in 1976, supporting promising young sports people across track and field, swimming, cycling, canoeing and judo.
In 1989, the Trust was honoured to welcome HRH, The Princess Royal as patron and in 2008 the charity rebranded as the Mary Peters Trust.
Over a 50 year period, the Mary Peters Trust has provided funding awards worth in excess of £1 million to more than 5,000 athletes across 50 different sports.
Local athletes who began their careers as Mary Peters Trust recipients and went on to achieve Olympic success include boxers Hugh Russell, Paddy Barnes, Michael Conlan, and Aidan Walsh; hockey players Stephen Martin, Jimmy Kirkwood, Billy McConnell and Jackie McWilliams as well as cyclist Wendy Houvenaghel and London 2012 rowers, Peter and Richard Chambers and Alan Campbell.
Mary Peters Trust Paralympian medallists include skier Kelly Gallagher, track and field athletes Michael McKillop and Jason Smyth and swimmer Bethany Firth.
Fast forward to Northern Ireland’s best ever Olympic medals haul at Paris 2024 when Trust supported athletes Rhys McClenaghan, Daniel Wiffen, Hannah Scott, Jack McMillan, Rebecca Shorten and Philip Doyle brought home a collection of gold, silver and bronze.
Highlighting how the Trust began, Lady Mary said: “After the Munich Olympics in 1972, I was determined to help young athletes coming after me to benefit from quality training facilities and to have the financial backing to nurture their talents and drive forward to success.
“Alongside the Mary Peters Track we set up a Trust with the strapline of ‘giving local people a sporting chance’ and I’m thrilled that half a century later it’s stronger than ever and we are helping even more athletes to realise their sporting dreams.
“Our success has been focussed on helping young athletes at the very start of their journey and before they become household names, enabling them to get to next level funding and training programmes.
“It’s such a wonderful feeling seeing athletes step up onto Commonwealth, World and Olympic podiums often many years after we first funded them and as a Trust, we can’t wait to see what the future holds for our young sports people.
“It’s been an honour and a privilege to have so many athletes and their families, our sponsors and partners, local media representatives, sporting organisations and regional councils joining us to celebrate this milestone. I would especially like to thank Belfast City Council as hosts, Deputy Mayor Andrew McCormick, in particular for selecting us as his chosen charity this year, and for the honour of lighting up our iconic City Hall in the Trust colours of blue and gold.”
From left: Trust director Julie Hastings, hockey stalwart Joan McCloy, Lady Mary and Pegasus hockey player Anna Pim
Lady Mary and Trust-funded badminton champion Paige Woods
Host Ruth Gorman, of UTV, interviews Trust-funded cyclist Luca Murray and Paige Woods
Lady Mary steps out with Olympic gymnastics gold medal winner Rhys McClenaghan, fresh from his triumph in RTE’s Dancing With The Stars
Rachel Wiffin, mum of Olympic gold medal winning, Trust-funded swimmer Daniel Wiffin, receives the Mary Peters Trust International Recognition award on behalf of her son
