North Kent sailing club secures £50,000 from sporting legacy fund

Seasalter Sailing Club has secured Olympic legacy funding from Sport England's Inspired Facilities fund © Steve Willis

Seasalter Sailing Club has secured Olympic legacy funding from Sport England's Inspired Facilities fund © Steve Willis

Seasalter Sailing Club, located to the east of Whitstable in Kent, has secured Olympic legacy funding from Sport England's Inspired Facilities fund.

The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the £135 million Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country. Every sports facility that receives funding will carry the London 2012 Inspire mark – celebrating the link to the Games.

Seasalter Sailing Club will receive £50,000 of National Lottery funding to rebuild its boat access ramp over the sea defence wall in Faversham Road, Seasalter - the sole route for moving dinghies and catamarans onto the beach. The club, in its 60th year, was home club to past Olympic Tornado catamaran sailors David Williams and Ian Rhodes (1992 and 1996 Olympics) who, with three generations of their families, joined many past and present members to celebrate the club's diamond anniversary over the Diamond Jubilee weekend.

The club's direct access to the beach was cut off by construction of sea wall defences after the 1953 floods. The ‘temporary' ramp, used for the sea wall construction, was gifted to the club to provide boat access to the beach on completion of the wall. Despite repairs over the years it is now in need of major refurbishment and remains too steep and narrow for safe and easy boat handling.

Sport England's Chair, Richard Lewis, said: "This National Lottery investment will create a lasting sporting legacy for the North Kent area. It shows we're offering the legacy that people want for their local community. For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2012 will be the year their local sports facilities got better."

Local MP, Julian Brazier, said: "This investment by Sport England into the Seasalter Sailing Club is fantastic news. The north Kent coast has always had a strong sailing tradition and this money is an investment in families and potential sailors of all ages for today and for the future. We look forward to seeing the club going from strength to strength with its improved beach access."

Club Commodore, Chris Stafford, said: " We are delighted to have secured this investment award. It has long been identified that poor beach access is a problem to less able members and youngsters, which prevents people joining the club and taking an active part in our wonderful sport. We have tried to minimise membership fees to encourage families and the less well off to have access to sailing in our local community and the cost of the project has been beyond our financial capability. It is cornerstone to the club's development to complete this project."

Club Vice Commodore, Ian Mills, said: "Despite raising £22,500 from membership and local business partnership funding we remained a long way short of the necessary funds for the work. This award enables us to now undertake this key development work. We are very grateful for the very positive assistance of our local MP, Julian Brazier, Mark Dance and Chris Metherell from KCC, and Canterbury City Council, the Environment Agency, Natural England and the Marine Management Organisation. We look forward to working with them all to bring this lasting sports legacy project to early completion."

SSC Open Day

This coming Saturday 21st July the club is holding an Open Day from noon to 4pm for members of the public to view the facilities and, subject to weather conditions, to have a taster sail – bring old clothes – see the club website at www.seasaltersc.org.uk for more details.

The Seasalter Sailing Club is one of hundreds of projects across England benefiting from lottery investment through the second round of the Inspired Facilities fund. And Sport England today launched a further £10 million funding round to help local community sports groups to upgrade their facilities. You can find out more at www.sportengland.org/inspiredfacilities. Bids will be accepted from 23 July 2012.

Places People Play is being delivered by Sport England, working partnership with the British Olympic Association (BOA) and the British Paralympic Association (BPA) with the backing of The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games and Paralympic Games (LOCOG) and the London 2012 Inspire mark.

LOCOG Chair, Seb Coe, said: "This is a fantastic funding project that will deliver a real legacy from the London 2012 Games. It will provide a whole range of sporting opportunities for young people through improved facilities and will I hope inspire them to take up sport."