Minister for Sport Richard Caborn MP has paid a special visit to Grindleford in Derbyshire to see a community that is streets ahead in its commitment to getting active with a stunning floodlit multi-use games area.

The ministerial visit marked the launch of the specially designed sports facility, which has been created in Grindleford, a village at the heart of the Peak District National Park.

Providing facilities for the community to participate in a host of sports, the multi use games area is fit for tennis, netball, football, volleyball, basketball, circuit training to name but a few activities. With a total funding of just over £200K, the majority of investment came from Sport England through the national ‘Active England’ Programme. The Active England programme represents £108.5 million investment for innovative sporting projects across the country and is managed as a partnership between the Big Lottery Fund and Sport England. Significant funding also came from WREN, (Waste Recycling Environment Limited).

The Minister commented:
"More and more people across the country are playing sport and getting active thanks to fantastic facilities like this one in Grindleford.  Multi-use games areas are very important for our communities, because they offer the opportunity for kids and adults to participate in a wide variety of sports - all year round.  I hope the local community enjoys this centre, and perhaps it will help produce some of our future Olympic medallists.”

Tim Garfield, Regional Director of Sport England East Midlands commented:
“At Sport England we are striving to make England the most active and successful sporting nation. Projects such as Active Grindleford will provide a safe and challenging environment for people to participate in physical activity and help us to realise this vision”.

The project was masterminded by the Grindleford Sport, Youth and Community Group, with the aim of encouraging local people to take part in sport and enabling them to develop skills not only in a range of sporting disciplines but in leadership and coaching. It is hoped that the facility might also go some way in nurturing young talent, who with the right support and training could become the next Freddie Flintoff or Wayne Rooney.

The Minister for Sport marked the official launch of the project, dubbed ‘Active Grindleford’ and to celebrate the occasion young people were invited to take part in a range of sports as well as try their hand at inflatable laser quest and skateboarding on the mobile skate park.

Commenting on the launch, John Moreton, Chair of the Playing Fields Association said:
“We’re delighted that Richard Caborn is officially launching Active Grindleford. This is a landmark in terms of demonstrating the value of sport at the heart of communities and we hope it is a model that can be rolled out to other areas.”

Note to editors

Funding agencies for the project include:

• Sport England
• Britannia Building Society
• WREN (Waste Recycling Environment Ltd)
• Grindleford Parish Council
• DCC Treasure Chest
• Barfill Trust
• Derbyshire Dales District Council
• Local Fundraising

Sport England is the strategic lead for Sport in England and invests Lottery and Exchequer funds into sport. Our aim is to encourage people of all ages to start, stay and succeed in sport at every level and make England the most active and successful sporting nation.

Sport England has nine Regional Sports Boards (RSBs), each made up of experts from areas such as business, local government, sport, health and education. The RSBs provide the strategic lead for sport in their regions and distribute investment for grassroots sport.

Sport England has invested more than £2bn of Lottery funds into sport across England and more than £300 million from the Exchequer.

Big Lottery Fund is the joint operating name of the New Opportunities Fund and the National Lottery Charities Board (which made grants under the name of the Community Fund). The Big Lottery Fund, launched on 1 June 2004, is distributing half of all National Lottery good cause funding across the UK.

The Big Lottery Fund is building on the experience and best practice of the merged bodies to simplify funding in those areas where they overlap and to ensure Lottery funding provides the best possible value for money. To date, the two-merged Fund’s have committed more than £5 billion to initiatives with national, regional and local partners from the public, voluntary, charity and private sectors, with a particular focus on disadvantage.

For further information regarding Active Grindleford please contact either Andrea Kemp (01332 416106) or Hayley Lever (01663 751521).