Kidderminster Tennis Club has secured £45,940 of Olympic legacy funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund.
The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country. Every sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark – celebrating the link to the Games.
The project aims to improve facilities at the club by upgrading the changing rooms and installing floodlighting to the two outdoor courts to increase the available court time and allow usage throughout the year.
Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “This investment will create will be a fantastic sporting legacy for Kidderminster Tennis Club.
“This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in West Midlands. It shows we’re offering the legacy that people want for their local community. For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2012 will be the year their local sports facilities got better.”
Club president Peter Young said: “The grant is the best start to 2012 we could have received and is a testament to the hard work put in by committee members.
“We have always wanted lights but they are so expensive that it was a long-term aim for us.
“Now we have the opportunity to have them a lot sooner than we thought.”
Mr Young added that installing lights would enable the courts to be used for longer in the evenings and should ultimately help attract new members to the club.
“We carried out a survey of our members recently and it was clear that new lights was one of the things they really wanted.
“I am pleased that we are really making progress at Kidderminster Tennis Club. Our new coach Tony Wright is doing a great job with the juniors and our facilities are set for a major upgrade.”
The local MP Mark Garnier said “I am delighted that Kidderminster Tennis Club has been awarded money from this important fund. It is absolutely right that the Olympic legacy reaches every part of our great country and this contribution to the local tennis scene is not just very welcome, it is an inspiration for all future Andy Murrays and Tim Henmans.”
The project is one of 350 local community sports groups who have been offered a total of £17.4 million in Olympic legacy funding through the Inspired Facilities Fund.
The investments announced today will breathe new life into tired facilities that can be unattractive to sports participants, 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.
Minister for Sport and the Olympics, Hugh Robertson MP, said: “We want to use the Olympic and Paralympics next summer to inspire a generation to get involved in sport across the country. This is why as part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme we invited community sports clubs to apply for funding to upgrade their facilities.”
Inspired Facilities has been designed to be as simple and accessible as possible for potential applicants, with a shorter form and a catalogue of ready-made options to choose from. This is the first of five funding rounds of Inspired Facilities; the second round opens on 1 February 2012, offering hundreds more local groups the chance to bid for a further £10 million of funding.
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 The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (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.”
The announcement was welcomed by the Local Government Association. Cllr Chris White, Chair of its Culture, Tourism and Sport Board, said: “In spite of budget pressures, councils are striving to keep supporting local sports clubs and want to work with them in creating a lasting and meaningful Olympic and Paralympic legacy. This much-needed funding will hopefully act as a catalyst to further strengthen local partnerships between councils and sports clubs and get more people playing sport.”
Inspired Facilities
Inspired Facilities is part of the Places People Play legacy programme. At least £52 million will be invested through Inspired Facilities. Responding to unprecedented demand, Sport England has made over £7 million of additional awards in the first round of investment decisions, taking the total to over £17 million. There will be four more funding rounds as part of Inspired Facilities, with the second round opening on 1 February 2012.