Club secures Olympic legacy

A COMMUNITY association in Peterborough has just secured a huge cash boost from a national sports body.

The Longthorpe Community Association, in Thorpe Road, has been awarded £20,300 of Olympic legacy funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund.

The cash will be used to put in more floodlights for tennis courts that have been recently converted from grass to all weather, and will allow people to play longer and after dark.

The association’s Ken Wappat said: “The grant we received for lights has enabled the Tennis Club to increase the usage of its new Astra turf courts.

“It has had an immediate effect of enabling the club to start a new all year round mini-tennis scheme for local under 10s, and to join another local tennis league with a team made up of half junior and half senior members.”

The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the £135 million Places People Play programme to enhance sporting facilities across the country to ensure there is a lasting legacy from the London Olympic games.

Each sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark – celebrating the link to the Olympic Games.

Sport England’s chairman, Richard Lewis, said: “This investment will create a fantastic sporting legacy for Longthorpe.

“This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in Peterborough.

“For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2012 will be the year their local sports facilities got better.”

The project is one of 350 community sports groups that have been offered £17.4 million in Olympic legacy funding by the Inspired Facilities Fund.