COUNCILLOR ARCHIE GRAHAM, THE CHAIR OF GLASGOW LIFE

COUNCILLOR ARCHIE GRAHAM, THE CHAIR OF GLASGOW LIFE

THE impact the Glasgow 2014 Commonwealth Games has had on the city and the lasting legacy it is already leaving are astounding.

Glasgow Life started working towards its legacy aims in 2009, to secure and maximise the benefits from this once in a lifetime opportunity. Since then, our sports clubs, coaches and volunteers have made a huge contribution to sport across the city and inspired people of all ages and abilities to lead healthy, active lives.

Exercise helps people live longer, happier lives and that's what we want for everyone in the city of Glasgow. I read a horrifying fact earlier this week, being inactive is a bigger cause of death than smoking, diabetes and obesity combined - this is not what we want for Glaswegians.

The Glasgow Club, our fantastic coaches and volunteers who encourage and inspire people to get active through our sports coaching programmes and our Good Move initiative, are all about helping people to get moving and keep moving; to sit less and move more.

The Active 2014 campaign presented an opportunity to work with existing partners, such as NHS, GHA, Macmillan, and SportScotland, and the Evening Times has been instrumental in reaching out to everyone in our city with this positive message, which has never been more important than in the year Glasgow welcomed the Commonwealth Games.

It has allowed us to promote the thousands of fantastic opportunities that Glasgow has to offer all of us. Opportunities to join in and take a stand (literally), getting off our sofas and choosing to make a change for the happier and healthier future we all deserve.

We are already seeing a fantastic legacy from the Commonwealth Games and, in terms of helping more people become more active, more often, attendances at the venues built or improved on for the Games have doubled in the past two years. We have more Glasgow Club members than ever before.

The Good Move campaign received almost 500 phone calls in its first few weeks from people seeking advice on how best to get started and we've been delighted to welcome them to our venues, clubs and programmes. Glasgow has the chance to become known as a healthy and active city and Active 2014 has been a great way to encourage more of us in making a start on that journey.

Glasgow is one of the world's top 10 sporting cities, and was also recently shortlisted for the title of SportBusiness ultimate Sports City 2014. In recent years, we have invested over £200 million improving our sports infrastructure, opening up world class venues such as the £113m Emirates Arena, which incorporates the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome, and Tollcross International Swimming Centre. These venues have been open to and used by local people, clubs and sports governing bodies long before they were handed over to the Games.

Just 15 days after the Games closing ceremony, all of the facilities used by were reopened and back in use by the public. We've always said that, above all else, these facilities belong to the people of Glasgow. They are world-class venues, which have a global reputation for being able to host international events but they are also already helping inspire the next generation of Scottish sports stars, who are training on the same tracks, pools and arenas where they watched the world's finest athletes compete this summer.

Glasgow's portfolio of major events continues to grow, with the IPC World Swimming Championships and World Gymnastics Championships both taking place here next year, the recently announced 2017 World Badminton Championships and the 2018 European Swimming Championships. All of which reaffirms Glasgow's position as one of the world's top sporting cities.