Penryn Rugby Club's big Olympic cash win
7:00am Tuesday 5th February 2013 in Falmouth/Penryn
Penryn Rugby Football Club will be handed £50,000 in Olympic legacy funding to help build a new multipurpose development and Learning Zone.
Visit thepacket.co.uk for more on the positive effects of last year’s Games in Cornwall.
The new centre at the Memorial Ground will offer a classroom, library, office, meeting place, crèche for younger families on match days, a club shop and covered entrance.
It was granted planning permission in July, but the club needed funds and support so work could start before permission expires in 2015. Local businesses have chipped in to offer their services and expertise and the club has planned fundraising events.
The latest funding boost comes courtesy of Sport England, who last week revealed another wave of cash released as part of the £150 million “Place People Play” Olympic and Paralympic legacy programme – delivered by the National Lottery.
All sports facilities that receive funding from the scheme will carry the London 2012 “Inspire” mark to celebrate their link with the games.
Penryn RFC youth section chairman David Fields said the grant, “represents the culmination of a great deal of work by the club and is a vindication of our plans for the improvement of sporting facilities both for the club and the local community.”
He said they have now “got the money to build the building” but still need “to raise funds to fit it out.”
“We are indebted to many local businesses whose generous support and offers of labour and materials have been a key factor in securing this funding,” he said “This really has been a team effort by the people of Penryn.”
The new building is envisaged by David and club secretary Peter Le Patourel as replacing two tired-looking portable buildings inside the ground’s Memorial Gates.
The gates were erected in tribute to those who gave their lives during the two world wars.
A “dilapidated ticket booth” will also be removed and “the building will enhance this area and restore the dignity and respect this feature of the club’s history deserves,” the pair said.
Local MP Sarah Newton welcomed the grant saying: “The construction of a Learning Zone facility will enable the club to grow and its members to develop their skills, enhancing the opportunities the club provides to local people.”
Penryn RFC is one of 310 projects across England, including Redruth and Penzance, to receive investment from the fund.
A further two rounds of funding remain. For more information, or to bid for the fourth round of funding, visit sportengland.org/inspiredfacilies before March 4.
