Another £5,000 of Sport England cash on way to Littlehampton

The Littlehampton Sportsfield Trust has secured £5,000 from the national aid fund to help keep their fields in St Flora’s Road maintained.

They are hopeful what they call ‘vital financial assistance’ will be received soon.

It comes on top of separate grants of £1,500 to Littlehampton Cricket Club and £864 for Littlehampton Croquet Club, which we reported on last week.

Sport England said the outbreak of the virus and the shutdown of businesses in March left the sport and physical activity sector facing great uncertainty.

The organisation announced a £195m package to help the sport and physical activity sector through Covid-19. Within that is a £20m Community Emergency Fund of National Lottery money to deliver immediate funding to those who support people staying active but are experiencing short-term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations because of coronavirus.

The £5,000 grant will allow the Littlehampton Sportsfield Trust to continue to make sure all the playing areas – cricket, croquet, football and tennis – will be ready to allow sport to start again as soon as permission is given and the lockdown lifted.

The risk of furloughing the groundsman, leaving the sportsfield unattended, would have been disastrous and the grant will help to meet the costs of maintenance.

Hugh Milner, general manager of the Sportsfield Trust, said: “The 700 sportspeople who enjoy the facilities at the Sportsfield will be pleased that once the release from the restrictions is given, the playing areas will be ready for use.

“The tennis and croquet clubs have already commenced with strong guidelines and compliance to Government instructions and the cricket club have been able to start a very restrictive regime for cricket practice with very limited numbers but with an excellent booking system

“It is important everyone follows the personal hygiene protocols and social distancing.”

Tim Hollingsworth, Sport England’s Chief Executive, said: “As the body responsible for the growth of sport and physical activity participation, we want the vital grassroots organisations that make sport and physical activity happen in this country to not just to come through this crisis but to be in a position to thrive again in the future.

"The £20m Community Emergency fund, made possible by National Lottery players is part of a multi-million pound package of support we are providing to ease the pressure on a huge number of the organisations who are central to the nation’s health and wellbeing.

“We are proud to be able to provide vital funding to the Littlehampton Sportsfield to help it through these extremely challenging times.”

As well as the sportsfield trust applying for a grant, all the resident clubs were encouraged to apply for grants to help meet the loss of income, meet their expenses and relieve problems with cashflow.

Further information on the Community Emergency Fund – including seeing if your organisation is eligible and the application process - can be found via www.sportengland.org/how-we-can-help/our-funds/community-emergency-fund

Has your club had financial aid from Sport England? Let us know and we’ll feature you in the paper and online - email [email protected]