The grant has covered the cost of refurbishing football goalposts and supplying equipment at the site, as well as enabling a new StreetGames DoorStep club to be introduced. The club offers sporting activities for young people to guide them away from anti-social behaviour and will also re-introduce adults into sport through ‘Get Back Into’ sessions with the club aiming to achieve 8,000 attendances over a three year period.
The new funding for the centre follows previous grants totalling £70,000 from Barclays and the Football Foundation since 2007. These grants were used to build the facility and run a range of coaching and sporting opportunities, including Friday night football sessions which engage 30 young adults on a weekly basis.
Barclays Spaces for Sports is a community sports programme which uses the power of sport to help young people develop the confidence and skills they need, and revitalise disadvantaged communities. As part of this programme, Barclays chose the Football Foundation to deliver the award-winning £67m facilities investment programme which has developed 200 community facilities across the UK, that cater for a wide range of sports.
Ian Ross, Sport & Recreation Manager at Cambridge City Council, said, “The grant from Barclays is a welcome boost to the area, enabling us to update existing equipment and provide more opportunities for people to participate in sport. The new StreetGames DoorStep clubs are a fun programme and we look forward to working with more young people and adults in the local community.”
Dr Julian Huppert, MP for Cambridge, commented on the new grant, “The work that the council do at Abbey MUGA is vital for keeping young people involved in sporting activities and reducing anti-social behaviour. The new DoorStep club will have a big impact on the local area and I hope it will encourage many people to take up activities at the site.”
Paulette Cohen, Head of Global Programmes, Barclays, said, “We are committed to ensuring the long-term sustainability of all Barclays Spaces for Sports sites and the additional funding that Abbey MUGA has received is a strong example of this. This is one of over 200 UK sites where we work with our partner, the Football Foundation, offering financial and non-financial assistance so they can continue to have a positive impact in the local community.”
Experts at the Football Foundation work closely with each site to identify their needs, and provide practical help such as advice on how to draw up new business and marketing plans and establish new local partnerships.
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For further information please contact:
James Jackson, Football Foundation - Barclays Spaces for Sports Support Officer, 0845 345 4555 ext:4262 or james.jackson@footballfoundation.org.uk
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New Barclays grant right on Cambridge’s DoorStep
24 December 2014
A new StreetGames DoorStep club has been introduced at the Abbey Mutli-Use Games Area (MUGA) in Cambridge, following the news that Cambridge City Council has been awarded a grant of £23,266 by Barclays.