London Marathon Charitable Trust announces new grants totalling more than £1.5 million
The London Marathon Charitable Trust (The Trust) has today announced new grants totalling £1,569,580 for projects in London and Surrey, taking the total amount of money awarded in The Trust’s history to more than £78 million.
The largest grant in the latest round of funding has been awarded to the London Borough of Croydon with £500,000 towards the development of the Purley Way Playing Fields Parklife Community Facilities.
This project will develop the existing playground, building new community football facilities and a games area for new activities aimed at children, young people with disabilities, women and girls.
Councillor Oliver Lewis, Cabinet Member for Culture, Leisure and Sport, said: “The London Marathon Charitable Trust’s exceptional grant is a demonstration of their support towards our Parklife proposals for Purley Way Playing Fields and moves us a step closer to realising this exciting project for Croydon. It will provide a wider sport and physical activity offering for the local community and disabled users of Waddon Youth and Community Centre for many years to come. I’d like to thank The Trust for showing their commitment towards this very important project.”
The London Borough of Hounslow has been awarded a grant of £250,000 for the redevelopment of Chiswick Boathouse, which includes new boat storage, changing facilities, a gym, community space and café, to give more local people access to the river
Councillor Steve Curran, Leader of Hounslow Council, said: “We’re thrilled to have received £250,000 in funding to revive the much-loved local landmark that is (Chiswick) Dukes Meadows Boathouse, which in recent years has suffered from neglect and under-usage. This improvement comes as part of a wider ambition to develop and improve the facilities at Dukes Meadow, and we have The London Marathon Charitable Trust, among our other partners, to thank for bringing us a step closer to restoring the boathouse to its former glory.”
A grant of £95,000 has been awarded to the Orion Harriers running club to extend their clubhouse at Jubilee Retreat in Epping Forest. This includes the expansion of the changing rooms and leisure spaces, allowing the club to provide more opportunities to get people running.
Grant Corton, Committee Member of Orion Harriers, said: “We urgently need to extend our clubhouse to provide enough facilities for our expanding junior and beginners’ running groups. The club has thrived since The London Marathon Charitable Trust helped us move into our current location some nine years ago and are looking forward to continuing that drive to improve the community’s physical and mental wellbeing.”
KIDS, a children’s disability charity, has been awarded a grant of £19,207for the installation of a sunken trampoline and MagixBox projector at the KIDS Chelsea Playground, supporting disabled children to be physically active through play.
Yunus Bham, Partnerships Manager at KIDS, said: “The support of The London Marathon Charitable Trust allows us to make KIDS Chelsea Playground more inclusive for the disabled children we support and encourages them to take part in physical activity which they wouldn’t have access to otherwise. This will help us transform the space and really help with the children’s development.”
A grant of £9,293 has been awarded to Communitas Education Trust towards playground improvements and the installation of a new games area at Goose Green Primary School in the London Borough of Southwark, encouraging children to get active during and after school.
Simon Wattam, Head Teacher at Goose Green Primary School, said: "We are delighted to be able to double the size of our playground, thanks to The London Marathon Charitable Trust. The extension will increase lunchtime and after school sport opportunities for all of our children and, in particular, will allow us to focus on making sport more accessible to girls.”
The full break down of grants is on this link.