Weymouth Sailing Club is among 324 local sports projects to secure its share of £17 million of National Lottery funding from Sport England's Inspired Facilities funds.
Since 2011, Inspired Facilities has been helping breathe new life into tired community sports facilities and converting existing buildings into venues suitable for grass roots sport.
The award is granted to assist Weymouth Sailing Club in financing the project 'Longshed Training Room'
The project is to modify the club's boat maintenance and storage area for flexible use for theory, practical training sessions, meetings and additional office space.
One end of the long shed will still be earmarked for boat maintenance. The other half will be heated, lit and decorated, producing an inspiring and useful training social area.
Weymouth Sailing Club has been awarded the sum of £48.354 of National Lottery funding to achieve these aims.
Sport England property director, Charles Johnston said, "The inspired facilities fund has a huge impact on grass roots sport across the country. Since 2011, we have invested £88 million into more than 1.600 projects to improve and refurbish sports clubs and transform non sporting venues into vibrant community sports clubs."
"It's great to see Weymouth Sailing Club join the long list of successful clubs to benefit from this fund."
Commodore Kathy Claydon said: "Since the Olympics when Weymouth Sailing Club acted as hosts to team GB and their families, using the long shed, we realised that, with funding, this underused part of the club could be utilised as a multifunctional area for training, boat maintenance, meetings and a social area, not just for Weymouth Sailing Club but for the local community.
I must highlight the support we received from Weymouth Rowing Club, Yacht Clubs of Weymouth and Weymouth Lifeboat amongst others in attaining this grant and thank them."
Many more communities are set to benefit from this 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, expensive to run and difficult to maintain and to convert existing non sporting buildings into venues that are suitable for grass root 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 be restricted by a specific deadline. To find out more, visit www.sportengland.org/inspiredfacilities
Submitted on 14th April 2014