Cornish Cricket Club awarded £60,000 of funding from Sport England

Penzance Cricket Club is among 148 local sports projects to secure a share of £10 million of

National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities fund.

Since 2011, Inspired Facilities has been helping breathe new life into tired community sports facilities and converting existing buildings into venues suitable for grassroots sport.

Penzance Cricket Club will receive £60,000 of National Lottery funding to build a new outdoor all-weather training facility.  When the project is completed, the club will have a new three bay outdoor cricket net facility, that has top of the range surfaces making it suitable for players up to and including full Test and County standard.

Sport England Property Director, Charles Johnston, said: “The Inspired Facilities Fund has had a huge impact on grassroots sport across the country. Since 2011, we’ve invested £94 million into more than 1,800 projects to improve and refurbish sports clubs and transform non-sporting venues into vibrant community sports clubs.

“It’s great to see Penzance Cricket Club join the long list of successful clubs to benefit from this fund.”

Club Secretary Brian Richards MBE said: “In this, the clubs 100th   year of playing in the Cornwall Cricket League, we are delighted to have secured this funding, bringing to a close a hugely successful season both on and off the pitch.  This funding award means we can now provide a wonderful new state-of-the-art facility for it's current players and, more importantly, the many youngsters from our local schools we hope to attract.

In recent years the club has been trying to increase its complement of youth cricket coaches and the numbers of youngsters, both boys and girls, to its coaching sessions.   This new facility, in partnership with local Primary and Secondary schools, and Penwith College under the 'Chance to Shine' initiative, will help us achieve our aim in encouraging significantly more young people from the Penzance and surrounding district to join Penzance Cricket Club.

This new facility is the cornerstone of our strategy to have an outstanding coaching facility for the 2012 Olympics’ legacy.”

Local  MP,  Derek  Thomas  said,  'I'm  delighted  that  Penzance  Cricket  Club  have  been successful in their efforts to secure this funding.  Cricket in Penzance and West Cornwall has a strong tradition and this funding helps to ensure our young people are able to train to a high standard, enjoy the benefits that being part of a club bring and continue this cricketing tradition.  Congratulations to all those who have worked so hard to achieve this.'

Many more communities are set to benefit from the hugely popular fund with the latest round of the Inspired Facilities now open. Community and voluntary organisations, councils and schools can bid for a share of £20 million to help  upgrade facilities that can be unattractive, expensive to run and difficult to maintain, and to convert existing non-sporting buildings into venues that are suitable for grassroots sport.

Applying for funding has never been easier. Based on feedback from previous applicants, the Inspired Facilities Fund is now an open programme which means projects can submit applications as soon as they are ready rather than being restricted by a specific deadline. To find out more and bid, visit www.sportengland.org/inspiredfacilities.