Shared scheme brings benefits for all

School pupils and the whole of the local community are benefiting from Sport England’s grant of £2.1m Lottery funding towards new sporting facilities at the Marden Bridge Middle School.

The British League Wheelchair Rugby team trains at the centre, which also hosts a Newcastle United Football Club Academy programme.

The centre – which received the Sportsmark Award in 2002-3 - was opened in 1999 to bring more sporting opportunities for local school pupils and to encourage local residents to participate more in sport.

And since then they have flocked to use the six-court sports hall and floodlit synthetic turf pitch, with over 112,000 people now visiting the site every year.

Other improvements carried out under the project included converting the existing school gym into two practice rooms and upgrading the existing grass football pitch. was improved.

Marden Bridge factfile

• Coaching hours for the under 18 age group are 39 hours a week
• There are 17 hours of coaching every week for adults
• County hockey tournaments are held at the facility and Whitely Bay ladies run two teams
• All 14 local schools use the centre during the year
• 42% of community usage was by young people

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To find out more about the Everyday Sport campaign, for activities taking place in your area and simple tips on how to get active, log onto www.everydaysport.com or call the Everyday Sport hotline: 0800 587