More than 1,000 grassroots clubs in Wales have been awarded funding to help ensure that sport and leisure opportunities return to local communities following the Covid-19 pandemic.
Since last summer, over £3m has been awarded by Sport Wales’ Be Active Wales Fund to volunteer-led clubs and not-for-profit organisations, and more money is still available.
Using funding from the Welsh Government and re-purposed cash from the National Lottery, the Be Active Wales Fund is offering grants of between £300 and £50,000 to help sports clubs survive the pandemic, make their activities Covid-secure, and support clubs’ plans for offering even better sporting opportunities beyond the crisis.
The fund has supported everything from hand sanitiser to solar panels so far, and Sarah Powell, Chief Executive of Sport Wales, said: “Just because activities are paused at the moment, it doesn’t mean that our planning or ambitions have to stop. Sport will start to reopen over the Spring and the Be Active Wales Fund can help ensure that clubs are ready to return safely as soon as Welsh Government guidelines allow.
“I also believe that sport will become more valued than ever when this pandemic is over so clubs will need to be ready for that. It’s exciting to see the varied ways in which clubs are already identifying ways they can improve their offer in the future and put smiles back on people’s faces.”
Research gathered during the latest year by Sport Wales and Savanta ComRes suggests that some of the inequalities in sports participation have been exacerbated by lockdowns. In response, Sport Wales are urging clubs to make use of the available funding to remove any barriers to sports participation in the future and engage with new audiences.
Sarah added: “We want to work with clubs to tackle all forms of inequality to ensure that everyone in Wales has the opportunity to be active through sport. The Be Active Wales Fund is there to help with this, so I would encourage all sports clubs and organisations who deliver sport to consider how they might make use of the funding to create a more active nation post-Covid.”
To find out more about the Be Active Wales Fund, please visit www.sport.wales/beactivewalesfund.
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