Council gives £8,000 boost to sports in local community

 

Cheshire East Council has given £8,200 to boost a sports group’s bid to widen its involvement in the local community.

The Council grant will support Wistaston Sports and Leisure Association’s (WSLA) application for £75,000 from environmental body Wren to help pay for a pavilion extension. This would enable broader community use of the building and facilities.

The WSLA is an independent 'not-for-profit' organisation set up in 1997 to encourage sport and leisure activities in the village.

Presenting the cheque, Councillor Margaret Simon, Cheshire East ward Member for Wistaston, said: “I am delighted that Cheshire East has been able to help with grant funding towards this project.

“The grant has helped to move the project forward and, ultimately, will enable the association to develop better facilities, which will benefit the community as a whole.”

Cllr Derek Millington, Wistaston parish councillor and WSLA chairman, said: “With this generous cheque from Cheshire East, alongside some other funding from the National Lottery via Sport England and Wren, we are able to bring our extension project forward by 12 months.

“The extension to the pavilion is much needed and we hope that, once completed, it will help us to really put WSLA on the map by attracting more and more people to join us and enjoy the benefits of our facilities.”

Membership of the association is open to any local resident and any local sports club can affiliate to the association. Currently, three football clubs, the village cricket club and the local community council are affiliated.

WSLA treasurer and parish Councillor Ray Westwood added: “This is an ambitious project and it really took some organising in terms of a funding plan.

“We are really pleased with the way that Cheshire East has supported us in this. The new extension will more than double the size of our function room and we’ll also have a large patio area, where people can watch the cricket and football.

“We currently have membership of around 500 people. In addition, our function room is rented out about 30 times a month to various community groups – so we’ve had something in the range of 10,000 visits from the community already and we want improve on that and make it even greater.”