Olympic Year Celebrated
Heighington Parish Council is celebrating its connection with the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games legacy with the official opening of their Sports Pavilion.
The council secured £50,000 of National Lottery funding from the Sport England’s Inspired Facilities legacy fund to build a new changing pavilion for the nine football teams. There were previously no changing facilities available for the teams, with players having to come changed or change in their cars.
The new facilities required a huge effort from the local community to provide a similar input to that of the Sport England grant. The huge effort was met by local businesses, members of participating football teams and individuals without whose help and skills, this new facility would have been extremely difficult to complete.
These new facilities have been provided to a standard that meets the requirements of FIFA.
Councillor Brian Anderson said: “We are delighted to secure the Inspired Facilities grant which will enable us to now increase the number of teams between the ages of 6 and 15. This will also require to provide more coaches and it is our strategy to have an outstanding club growing from this 2012 Olympic legacy.”
The Inspired Facilities fund is part of the Sport England’s £150 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.
Sport England’s Chair, Richard Lewis, said “This investment has created a fantastic sporting legacy for Heighington Parish Council. This fund has really hit the mark with sports clubs in County Durham. 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.”
The project is one of 600 local community sports groups who have been offered more than £36 million pounds in Olympic legacy funding through the Inspired Facilities Fund. The formal opening of the new facilities is to be held at 12.30pm on Saturday, 17th November 2012 at the sports field, Redworth Road, Heighington, DL5 6RS.
Local boy, Kieran Maxwell and the project manager, Councillor Brian Anderson have been invited to formally open the new facility with the Mayor of Darlington in attendance.
