Central London grass roots sports projects share in Olympic legacy funding boost

Across the country 377 community sports projects have secured National Lottery investment under 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.

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 four successful projects in Central London are:

• Great new sporting opportunities are to be created in the London Borough of Southwark thanks to a National Lottery award of £97,719. The funding will contribute to a total project cost of £1,012,719 to refurbish the sports hall at Camberwell Baths. The new, flexible activity space will cater for a variety of sports including table tennis, movement and dance, judo, fencing, taekwondo, yoga, exercise and fitness, gymnastics and dodge ball.
• Swimmers are to benefit from a National Lottery award to improve facilities at Sport Imperial in the City of Westminster. Sport England’s investment of £63,232 will go towards the refurbishment of St Mary’s swimming pool, both the pool itself and the changing rooms, which would allow the pool to remain open to all current user groups and increase participation by attracting people from new user groups.
• The Spencer Club in Earlsfield, Wandsworth, has secured £42,000 of funding towards a project to refurbish the clubhouse. The refurbishment will include the reconfiguration of the clubroom with a movable partition to create an activity/meeting room which can be let, and, upgrading the kitchen to a commercial standard. The refurbishment will improve the quality of the social facilities so they are readily available to local users, and enable the club to retain current users and attract new ones.
• Great new sporting opportunities are to be created in Camden thanks to a National Lottery award to Camden Community Football & Sports Association. An award of £50,000 will go towards the installation of two artificial turf pitches and a multi-use games area with fencing and floodlighting at Chase Lodge Playing Fields.

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.”

Even more local sports clubs could benefit as Sport England today launched another £10 million funding round of Inspired Facilities. Bids to the next round of Inspired Facilities will be accepted between 23 July and 17 September. Full details of the fund and how to apply can be found at www.sportengland.org/inspired