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Lottery Lucky for Sussex

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News was received this week that the University has been successful in a bid to the Lottery Sports Fund. We have been awarded a grant of just under half a million pounds to improve facilities at the Sports Pavilion.

The successful bid is for the conversion of the existing floodlit pitch to an artificial turf pitch; conversion of two of the five squash courts to a ground floor fitness training area and dance exercise studio; upgrading of changing facilities; installation of a new reception area and staff accommodation and making the whole of the existing accommodation accessible to people with disabilities.

The re-furbished pavilion and new pitch will provide key benefits for the local community and the bid was put together with the needs of the region very much in mind. According to Jan Thole, Director of Sport "This is excellent news for the university and for the local community, clubs and schools who will benefit from this grant by having even greater opportunities to use this first class university facility."

The University's Sports Service has promoted community use of its facilities since the early l970s and works closely with the Sports Development Team in Brighton Borough Council to provide coaching and recreation classes for members of the local community. But there is still a large unmet need in the locality for access to such facilities, and because we have lacked means of providing staff supervision, community use of the Pavilion's facilities has hitherto been restricted.

Among the benefits to the community of the project will be access to a conveniently sited artificial pitch - the demand for access to such pitches, not only for matches but for training, now far exceeds supply in the local region. There will be programmes of hockey, football, squash, racketball and tennis coaching, and fitness and health-related activities. We shall also provide an open access programme of community sports aimed at attracting new participants to sport and fitness among some key target groups, notably children and young people, veterans, people with disabilities and women. As part of the project, the University has undertaken to promote the sports services and facilities actively to clubs, schools and individuals within the region and one of the key objectives is to achieve a year-round average of not less than 40 hours per week of community use.

The Lottery grant, which totals £499,500 comes in addition to a grant of £75,000 already obtained from the Foundation for Sport and the Arts. Work is planned to begin in three months' time and it is expected that the project will take up to six months to complete.

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March 7th 1997