New 3G facility opened by Mark Yates and Crawley MP Henry Smith
Crawley MP Henry Smith and Manager Mark Yates have officially opened the Crawley Town Community Foundation Biffa Award-funded 3G Community Ball Court.
The £42,315.72 grant is from Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives by awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK as part of the Landfill Communities Fund. It was used to upgrade the Community Ball Court to a 3G surface at the Checkatrade Stadium.
Mark and his assistant Jimmy Dack rolled back the years to take part in a three-team tournament with their backroom staff, the Community team and BTEC scholars.
Having had very little TLC since it was laid over 15 years ago, there has been a clear drop in the use of the site as a consequence.
However, thanks to the grant, the Foundation will be looking to continue the recent revival of community programmes on the ball court now that the site will be safer than ever before.
Foundation Manager Birtug Kazim said: “For the past year we have steadily increased the activity we deliver on the ball court, but whenever we have some rain or adverse weather conditions we have had to call off our sessions.
"With the all-weather 3G surface we will not only be able to play through the rain but also increase the range of programmes we deliver on the Community Ball Court."
Henry Smith added: “I was delighted to hear from Birtug that the Crawley Town Community Foundation had been awarded Biffa Award funding to resurface the Ball Court pitch.
“This will help the Foundation continue to grow their successful community programmes, including COGs (Crawley Old Girls) who are soon to be featured on Sky Sports, Capers, run in conjunction with Autism Sussex, and their BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport.
“The new 3G pitch is a fantastic surface and I’m sure it’ll lead to further participation in Community Foundation projects. Having listened to some of the BTEC students at the launch it’s clear how much of an improvement this new pitch is.”
Manager Mark Yates said: "It’s a fantastic surface and great opportunity for the local community to make use of more quality playing facilities in the town.”
