You can find details of all funded projects
here.
- 19.4m being distributed to 377 community sports projects in
every part of England as part of the Olympic legacy
- Funding for legacy programme increased by £15 million thanks to
strong sales of National Lottery tickets
- Sport England invites more sports clubs to bid for the next £10
million in its Inspired Facilities Programme as Olympic legend Sir
Steve Redgrave hails legacy programme
With just 10 days to go until the Olympic
Games begin, 377 community sports groups are celebrating after
securing a share of over £19 million of Olympic legacy funding. The
announcement comes after new figures showed more people than ever
are playing sport every week.
The National Lottery investment comes from the
Inspired Facilities Fund – part of Sport England’s
Places People Play Olympic and Paralympic legacy
programme. All the facilities will carry the London 2012 Inspire
mark – celebrating the link to the Games.
Even more local sports clubs could benefit as
Sport England today launched another £10 million funding round of
Inspired Facilities.
Sport England’s Chief Executive, Jennie Price,
said: “There’s a lot to celebrate as we welcome the world’s
greatest athletes to London, but what happens to our local sports
facilities in 2012 is just as important. The £19m investment we’re
announcing today means people in every part of England will see
improved sports facilities on their own doorsteps.”
Responding to strong demand from sports clubs,
the budget for the latest round of Inspired Facilities has been
doubled – an increase made possible by an increase of £15 million
to Sport England’s Olympic legacy programme thanks to strong sales
of lottery tickets.
Sport and Olympics Minister Hugh Robertson
said: “Hosting the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games gives
us an opportunity to put sport in the spotlight and encourage more
people to participate. That’s exactly what Places People
Play is about. It’s already having a positive impact on
grassroots sport in communities up and down the country and the
additional £15 million will spread that further, helping to leave a
real sports legacy long after the Games.”
In addition to the £19,399,408 announced
today, sports playing fields and facilities across the country had
already received more than £46 million through Sport England’s
Places People Play legacy programme. As well as these
investments, over 80,000 young people have got into sport through
Sportivate, over 18,000 people have been inspired by
the Olympics and Paralympics to become a Sport Maker and more
than 100,000 have signed up to do a sporting challenge for charity
through Gold
Challenge.
Five-time Olympic gold medalist Sir Steve
Redgrave, said: “Already this legacy programme has brought sporting
opportunities to every corner of the country.
“So wherever you live you too can be part of
it, whether that’s making sport happen in your neighbourhood as a
Sport Maker or getting out there and enjoying sport at
decent local facilities.”
The investments announced today will breathe
new life into tired facilities that can be unattractive to sports
participants and difficult to maintain and run. Grants have also
been offered to convert existing buildings into venues that are
suitable for grassroots sport and to allow local clubs to buy the
facilities they use.
The funding is supporting a wide range of
projects, including:
- Basketball players in Ipswich who have to train and play at
nine different facilities are finally getting a permanent home
thanks to £22,875 of funding. It means Copleston High School can
install a sprung floor in its sports hall which will now host
Ipswich Basketball Club as well as providing great facilities for
the school’s 1,800 pupils.
- A community project in the Olympic borough of Newham has
secured £50,000 to install a permanent gymnastics floor. The West
Silvertown Foundation will be home to gymnasts and cheer-leaders as
well as offering a wide range of dance and exercise
classes.
- Bradfield Cricket Club near Reading will get a new clubhouse
after securing £42,650 to replace facilities that were gutted in a
fire caused by an arson attack in November.
- A derelict Royal British Legion building is to be turned into a
thriving boxing club after Redditch Community Amateur Boxing Club
in Worcestershire secured £50,000. The club will offer a wide range
of classes to community users and aims to use boxing as a vehicle
for social change.
Places People Play is being delivered
by Sport England. We are working in partnership with the British
Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association
(BPA) with the backing of LOCOG and the London 2012 Inspire
mark.
LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe, said: “This is a
fantastic funding project that will deliver a real legacy from the
London 2012 Games. It will provide a whole range of sporting
opportunities for young people through improved facilities and
will, I hope, inspire them to take up sport.”
Fourteen community projects that are
benefiting disadvantaged young people have been awarded a total of
£107,901 in additional funding from the Thomas Cook’s Children’s
Charity, Sport England’s partner for Inspired
Facilities.
Pete Constanti, Chairman of the Thomas Cook
Children’s Charity, said: “In this Olympic year, we’re really
pleased to be able to award funding to these projects to help
improve their facilities as they continue encouraging more children
to get involved in sport who might otherwise not be able to.
We’ve been overwhelmed with the number of applications for our
grants and the fund, which highlights the amazing work being done
by volunteers in sports clubs up and down the country.”
Figures released recently by Sport England
have shown that the total number of adults in England taking part
in sport at least once a week has reached 15.3 million, an increase
of 1.3 million since 2005/6 when London won the Olympic bid.