Twickenham Yacht Club secures £50,000 Olympic legacy funding
by Alison Jee 14 Aug 2012 17:05 BST
14 August 2012
In a month when sailor Ben Ainslie made Olympic history with his sailing medals, Twickenham Yacht Club (TYC) has an additional reason to celebrate; it has secured £50,000 Olympic legacy funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund to make improvements to its historic clubhouse.
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.
“The work will include installing a stair lift to enable some of our elderly andless mobile members to reach the Upper Deck.” Says TYC Commodore Robert Page. “We also plan to refurbish the men’s changing room, our balcony and our galley kitchen. The balcony improvements will allow less mobile and disabled members to view the dinghy sailing races from the clubhouse and enjoy the wonderful river aspects of this historic building.
“These improvements will also allow us to showcase the clubhouse when visiting clubs attend open race meetings and other events. It will also encourage new members to join the club.” He adds.
Twickenham MP the Rt Hon Dr Vince Cable was also very pleased with the news: “I am absolutely delighted to hear of this successful bid. Britain’s success in sailing at the Olympics will undoubtedly spur interest in this increasingly popular sport. The Club is to be praised for reaching out to attract new, including disabled, members.”
Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said: “This National Lottery investment will create a lasting sporting legacy for Twickenham.
“This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in SW London. 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.”
Twickenham Yacht Club is one of hundreds of projects across England benefitting from lottery investment through the second round of the Inspired Facilities fund. And Sport England has launched a further £10 million funding round to help local community sports groups to upgrade their facilities. More information can be found at www.sportengland.org/inspiredfacilities. Bids are currently being accepted.
Places People Play is being delivered by Sport England, working in 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, Lord Sebastian 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.”