Rory welcomes sporting legacy boost for Kirkby Stephen Grammar School
Rory has welcomed news that Kirkby Stephen Grammar School has secured £120,000 of Olympic legacy funding
from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund, 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.
This significant tranche of funding will allow the completion of the second phase of the community sports hall project at Kirkby Stephen Grammar School, following completion of the main sports hall in July 2011. Pupils and local users will now be able to access toilets showers and changing rooms, as well as the first-floor community function rooms, previously incomplete due to insufficient funding. The Inspired Facilities funding has allowed Phase 2 to be completed, making the sports hall a fully functioning facility which will increase participation by pupils and community groups. As part of its development plan, there will be new clubs started, including one for disabled young people. The first floor area will be available to both sporting and non-sporting groups to use, either for hire or for parents and friends to wait or watch sporting events.
Rory said: “This is absolutely fantastic news, and I couldn’t be more pleased that the sports hall will be completed soon, allowing the facilities to grow and benefit not only the pupils and staff at KSGS, but the surrounding community as well. This is the year to celebrate sport and its ability to bring communities together, and I
am delighted that KSGS’s commitment to sport and the community has been recognised in this way.”
David Keetley, Headteacher, said: “We are delighted to secure the Inspired Facilities grant, which has finally enabled us to upgrade our sports hall. It is only right that Kirkby Stephen, with its long tradition of sport clubs and sporting success, should have a first-class facility, part-funded by the Olympic legacy. As a school, we have now raised some £720,000 to build this fantastic facility.”
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.”
Notes to Editors:
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[1]. There will be four more funding rounds as part of Inspired Facilities, with the second round opening on 1 February 2012.
At least £35 million of the funding will go to community and voluntary organisations, through grants of between £20,000 and £50,000. The remaining funding will be open to a wider group of organisations, including councils and schools, with grants of up to £150,000 available.
To make sure the technical elements of the application process don’t put off groups with good projects, Sport England has created a catalogue of typical facilities developments and improvements, based on what sports clubs have told us they need.
Sport England
Sport England is focused on the delivery of a mass participation legacy from the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. We invest National Lottery and Exchequer funding in organisations and projects that will grow and sustain participation in grassroots sport and create opportunities for people to excel at their chosen sport.
For more information please contact the press office: Peter Dickinson
on 020 7273 1800.
