£10 million to deliver rural sporting legacy

Sport England has revealed the sports projects that will benefit from a £10 million National Lottery fund to get more people playing sport in rural communities.

The Rural Communities fund is the first of our themed rounds aimed at addressing some of the biggest challenges to grassroots participation. In rural areas, we know the barriers include reduced choice in the sports available, higher delivery costs and transportation issues.

The successful bids were announced by our Chair, Richard Lewis, at Whitlingham Outdoor Education Centre in Norfolk, where dozens of people from across the county were taking part in a village games competition involving archery, cycling, canoeing and tug of war.

The schemes include programmes aimed at young and older people, new facilities and both projects that bring sport to villagers’ doorsteps as well as those that bring villagers to sporting opportunities. They include:

• Norfolk Village Games which will see over 100 village teams, involving over 9,000 people, competing in village games over three years. Sports on offer will include softball, tennis, netball, football, badminton, tug of war and archery. The project will generate 1,000 new sports club members and 140 new coaches. Awarded: £577,701
• The South West Lakes Trust’s Outdoor n Active, a project to improve the sporting opportunities offered on and around inland lakes in Cornwall, Devon and Somerset. Awarded: £175,000.
• Cycle Suffolk, a project that will see 2,100 school children joining British Cycling’s GO ride cycle scheme over three years as well as 2,000 people joining village cycling schemes and 220 people taking part in disabled cycling programmes. Awarded: £372,000.

We’re confident that these projects will give more people the chance to find the sport for them and help our drive to increase regular participation. The decisions were welcomed by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport.

“Investing in these exciting and innovative schemes creates another way people in rural communities across England can benefit from the Government's drive to boost the nation's health and fitness in the run up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games,” said Ben Bradshaw. “Those who live in rural areas deserve to have access to high-quality schemes and facilities, and the chance to try out new and more unusual sports, just as much as people in towns and cities.”