Grants boost for major hockey venue

Taverham Recreational Facilities has been awarded a £50,000 grant 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 involves laying a second synthetic pitch later this year to further provide hockey facilities.

Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “This investment will create will be a fantastic sporting legacy for Taverham.

“This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in Broadland. 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.”

TRF, a partnership between Norwich City Hockey Club, Broadland Hockey Club, Taverham High School and Taverham Parish Council, was founded in 1994 to develop and manage sporting activities and facilities in the Parish of Taverham.

“With over 500 regular players, including 250 under-18s, it has been a real challenge to fit all or our training and fixtures onto one pitch,” said Ali Wardale, Norwich City’s youth development officer. “The second pitch will give a huge boost to local hockey and will allow us to continue to grow the clubs; we are really grateful to Sport England for their generous grant.”

Other contributors to the project will include Taverham Hall School who will use the new pitch during weekday afternoons. The School’s U/11 boys and girls teams have both qualified to represent Norfolk in the East Regional Finals. “Many of our players play for Norwich City at the weekends” said Mike Crossley, Taverham Hall’s headmaster. “Our involvement with the second pitch will strengthen this relationship to the benefit of both the school and the hockey clubs.”

Local MP, Keith Simpson, said: “I’m delighted to hear of this exciting investment into Taverham Recreational Facilities. Community and grass-roots sports are vital in helping to develop strong communities and producing our sports stars of tomorrow. Awards such as this will improve the health and wellbeing of people of all ages and abilities, and it is always so heartening to see the enjoyment that people get from sports. Sport England’s Inspired Facilities funding will, I am sure, have an enormously positive effect on the local area and I would like to congratulate the facility on receiving this significant injection of money.”

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 this 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 opened 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.”

Photo: Cheque presentation with (Back row L-R) Nick Boulter (Sport England), Graham Porter, Keith Simpson MP, Ali Wardale, Terry Ranson, Ron Munson (Head Teacher), Mike Crossley (Head Teacher). Front L-R Kevin Peters, Rob Baker, Maya Conray and Evie Andrews. at the Taverham Recreational Facilities, Norwich. Picture by: Jeremy Durkin/Sport England (Press Association)