Sport
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Bideford, Littleham and Westward Ho! Cricket Club is among 324 local sports projects to secure a share of £17 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities fund.
Since 2011, Inspired Facilities has been helping breathe new life into tired community sports facilities and converting existing buildings into venues suitable for grassroots sport.
Bideford, Littleham & westward Ho! Cricket Club Ltd will Club will receive £45300.00 of National Lottery funding to provide safety ball stop netting to 3 sides of our cricket ground, which has helped thousands of local young people get into sport since it started playing cricket since 1970 and before as Bideford Cricket Club. The improvements will minimise risk to the general public and passing traffic from cricket balls in this centre of town location. Ground is adjacent to a children’s playground and Go Karting project.
Sport England Property Director, Charles Johnston, said: “The Inspired Facilities Fund has had a huge impact on grassroots sport across the country. Since 2011, we’ve invested £88 million into more than 1,600 projects to improve and refurbish sports clubs and transform non-sporting venues into vibrant community sports clubs.
“It’s great to see Bideford, Littleham and Westward Ho! Cricket club Ltd. join the long list of successful clubs to benefit from this fund.”
Club Chairman, Kevin Fishleigh, said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment, which means we can upgrade the safety of our cricket ground to match the quality of our cricket coaches. It is the cornerstone of our strategy to have an outstanding club for the 2012 Olympics’ legacy.”
Local MP, Geoffrey Cox, said: “Without this investment there is a real possibility that for health and safety reasons the club may be unable to continue running, as there have previously been accidents where balls have been hit out of the field during play, sometimes causing damage to property abutting the ground”
Many more communities are set to benefit from the hugely popular fund, with the latest round of the Inspired Facilities now open. Community and voluntary organisations, councils and schools can bid for a share of £20 million to help upgrade facilities that can be unattractive, expensive to run and difficult to maintain, and to convert existing non-sporting buildings into venues that are suitable for grassroots sport.
Funding for top sports teams!
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