The London Marathon Charitable Trust (The Trust) has today announced new grants totalling £1,569,580 for projects in London and Surrey, taking the total amount of money awarded in The Trust’s history to more than £78 million.
The largest grant in the latest round of funding has been awarded to the London Borough of Croydon with £500,000 towards the development of the Purley Way Playing Fields Parklife Community Facilities.
This project will develop the existing playground, building new community football facilities and a games area for new activities aimed at children, young people with disabilities, women and girls.
Councillor Oliver Lewis, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “The London Marathon Charitable Trust’s exceptional grant is a demonstration of their support towards our Parklife proposals for Purley Way Playing Fields and moves us a step closer to realising this exciting project for Croydon. It will provide a wider sport and physical activity offering for the local community and disabled users of Waddon Youth and Community Centre for many years to come. I’d like to thank The Trust for showing their commitment towards this very important project.”
The London Borough of Hounslow has been awarded a grant of £250,000 for the redevelopment of Chiswick Boathouse, which includes new boat storage, changing facilities, a gym, community space and café, to give more local people access to the river
Councillor Steve Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council, said: “We’re thrilled to have received £250,000 in funding to revive the much-loved local landmark that is (Chiswick) Dukes Meadows Boathouse, which in recent years has suffered from neglect and under-usage. This improvement comes as part of a wider ambition to develop and improve the facilities at Dukes Meadow, and we have The London Marathon Charitable Trust, among our other partners, to thank for bringing us a step closer to restoring the boathouse to its former glory.”
A grant of £95,000 has been awarded to the Orion Harriers running club to extend their clubhouse at Jubilee Retreat in Epping Forest. This includes the expansion of the changing rooms and leisure spaces, allowing the club to provide more opportunities to get people running.
Grant Corton, Committee Member of Orion Harriers, said: “We urgently need to extend our clubhouse to provide enough facilities for our expanding junior and beginners’ running groups. The club has thrived since The London Marathon Charitable Trust helped us move into our current location some nine years ago and are looking forward to continuing that drive to improve the community’s physical and mental wellbeing.”
KIDS, a children’s disability charity, has been awarded a grant of £19,207 for the installation of a sunken trampoline and MagixBox projector at the KIDS Chelsea Playground, supporting disabled children to be physically active through play.
Yunus Bham, Partnerships Manager at KIDS, said: “The support of The London Marathon Charitable Trust allows us to make KIDS Chelsea Playground more inclusive for the disabled children we support and encourages them to take part in physical activity which they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. This will help us transform the space and really help with the children’s development.”
A grant of £9,293 has been awarded to Communitas Education Trust towards playground improvements and the installation of a new games area at Goose Green Primary School in the London Borough of Southwark, encouraging children to get active during and after school.
Simon Wattam, Head Teacher at Goose Green Primary School, said: “We are delighted to be able to double the size of our playground, thanks to The London Marathon Charitable Trust. The extension will increase lunchtime and after school sport opportunities for all of our children and, in particular, will allow us to focus on making sport more accessible to girls.”
The full break down of grants is as follows:
LOCATION / DESCRIPTION GRANTEE AWARDLondon Boroughs Croydon London Borough of Croydon £500,000.00Towards new community football facilities and improvements to the playground and Multi Use Games Area at Purley Way Playing Fields in Waddon, supporting a diverse programme of activities aimed at children, young people with disabilities and additional needs, women and girls. London Boroughs Hounslow London Borough of Hounslow £250,000.00Towards the replacement of Chiswick Boathouse in Dukes Meadows with a flexible modern building which will host a varied water sports programme. Surrey Elmbridge Cobham Rugby and Sports Association £150,000.00 Towards the installation of an Artificial Grass Pitch for multi-sport use at Cobham Rugby and Sports Association, enabling pupils from a new secondary school to become physically active and supporting an expanded community development programme that will encourage local people to participate in sports and activities programmes.
Surrey Woking Borough Woking Borough Council £150,000.00Towards a new full size floodlit 3G Artificial Grass Pitch and pavilion at Woking College which will host local youth football clubs and a varied community programme aimed at mental health service users, over 50s and GP referral clients.
London Boroughs Newham East London Dance £99,000.00Towards a new centre for Urban Dance in Dane’s Yard in Stratford, East London that includes the purpose built fitting out of two new dance studios. The project will provide exciting opportunities to engage people in physical activity through high quality dance and fitness programmes.
London Boroughs Waltham Forest Orion Harriers £95,000.00 Towards an extension to the Orion Harriers clubhouse on the edge of Epping Forest in order to increase changing room capacity and social/activity space, allowing the club to host regular mobility and functional movement classes aimed at over 60s and to deliver additional pathways into running for inactive people.
London Boroughs Croydon St Cyprian’s Greek Orthodox Primary Academy £76,080.00Towards the creation of a new floodlit multi-sports pitch at St Cyprian’s Greek Orthodox Primary Academy to support a programme of school and community use in partnership with Croydon Council’s “Live Well” team, Croydon Voluntary Action, St Andrews Youth Development Trust and Palace for Life Foundation.
London Boroughs Croydon St Cyprian’s Greek Orthodox Primary Academy £76,080.00Towards the creation of a new floodlit multi-sports pitch at St Cyprian’s Greek Orthodox Primary Academy to support a programme of school and community use in partnership with Croydon Council’s “Live Well” team, Croydon Voluntary Action, St Andrews Youth Development Trust and Palace for Life Foundation.
Surrey Elmbridge 1st Claygate Scout Group £70,000.00Towards improvements to Claygate Scout Centre through a first floor extension will enable the Scout Group to recruit more young people and support them to take part in regular physical activities.
London Boroughs Newham Fight for Peace (UK) £30,000.00 Towards the development of a modern Youth Hub at the Fight for Peace Academy in Newham which will support the recruitment of participants into Fight for Peace’s flagship physical activity programme and be integral to the long term retention of these participants through the education, employability, mentoring and leadership support services that accompany the programme.
London Boroughs Enfield Botany Bay Cricket Club £27,000.00 Towards enlargement and refurbishment of changing facilities at Botany Bay Cricket Club to improve the participation experience and cater for the expanding female and junior sections of the clubs based at the site.
London Boroughs Redbridge Coppice Primary School £20,000.00Towards the redevelopment of a disused area of land at Coppice Primary School, providing opportunities for outdoor learning through physical activities including outdoor survival skills, sensory explorations, growing vegetables and encouraging healthy lifestyles through exercise and diet.
London Boroughs Redbridge London Borough of Redbridge £20,000.00 Towards the development of a new floodlit synthetic grass multi-use games area for use by Mayesbrook Primary School and the wider community, offering a broad range of engaging sports and activities including sessions that will specifically target local people of all ages who are currently inactive.
Surrey Waverley Waverley Borough Council £20,000.00Towards improvements to community tennis courts at Haslemere Recreation Ground, resulting in a high quality facility that wil attract and encourage more participation in tennis by local people of all ages, supported by specific plans to target and engage those that are currently inactive.
London Boroughs Kensington & Chelsea KIDS £19,207.00Towards the installation of an outdoor sunken trampoline and indoor Magixbox projector at KIDS Chelsea Adventure Playground, enabling disabled children to be physically active through positive play.
Surrey Guildford Wey Valley Indoor Bowls Association £19,000.00 Towards improvements to Wey Valley Indoor Bowls Association’s clubhouse including the provision of accessible toilet facilities, space for baby changing and a new meeting and function room for use by the bowls club and other local clubs and community groups.
London Boroughs Barnet Phoenix Canoe Club Limited £15,000.00 Towards a feasibility study and business planning exercise to inform the potential redevelopment of Phoenix Outdoor Centre.
London Boroughs Southwark Communitas Education Trust £9,293.00 Towards playground improvements, the installation of a Multi-Use Games Area and signage in the main playground at Goose Green Primary School, encouraging children to be physically active during and after school.
The next deadline to submit grant applications to The Trust is 16 April 2019. For more about The London Marathon Charitable Trust visit www.lmct.org.uk