Sport England London announce £140,000 development grant in Hornchurch

Sport England London, in collaboration with the Community Club Development Programme, has awarded the London Borough of Havering on behalf of Havering Cormorants Diving Club over £140,000 to help with a major modernisation programme.

With the 2012 Olympics just around the corner, many of Britain’s facilities are seeing modernisation programmes aimed at giving British athletes the best possible training facilities to help them achieve Olympic glory.

The grant awarded to the London Borough of Havering on behalf of Havering Cormorants Diving Club will enable, them to do exactly that.  Once completed the modernised facilities will give the club’s divers access to world class, state of the art technology and training areas, including:

•A purpose built poolside warm up and conditioning area - this will give the club an area specifically designed for preparing divers of all levels prior to pool sessions.

•Training bubbles - these help divers in the pool to develop advanced diving skills by providing an assisted, air cushioned, dive entry.

•Specialist dry-land equipment - an area where divers will develop and accelerate the progression from fundamental to advanced diving skills and also provide coach development opportunities.

•Delayed video system with poolside viewing screen - this will give immediate visual feedback and skill analysis opportunities to divers and coaches.

In addition to making diving more accessible to the local community, the influence of the new equipment will act as a springboard for potential young Olympic and Paralympic diving hopefuls.

Ian Macleod, The Havering Cormorants Club Chairman, said:  “This award will allow the club to develop its facilities and take it from being a great club facility to an all new and world class level.  Not only will this allow us to attract some of the finest divers in the area, but it will also encourage more people from the local community into the sport. The club thank the London Borough of Havering for working in partnership with Sport England to enable this development to progress”

John Brewer, Chair of Sport England London Regional Sports Board, said:  “The facilities available at Hornchurch are currently of a very high standard, but in order to allow them to raise the bar and to help them compete internationally, investment was needed.  Not only will this grant help them achieve these goals of Olympic glory, but will also help increase the level of participation in sport and recreation amongst the Hornchurch community.”

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Sophie McKenzie sophiem@launchgroup.co.uk 020 7758 3948

Katrina Brady  katrinab@launchgroup.co.uk 020 7758 3933

NOTES TO THE EDITOR:

•Sport England is a non-departmental public body and National Lottery distributor. We are committed to creating a world class community sports development system and increasing participation in sport. Sport England has been a statutory consultee on planning applications affecting playing fields since August 1996. We object to any application that is detrimental to sport, unless alternative provision of at least equivalent value is found elsewhere.