Local young people will join representatives from Barclays, Gosport Borough Council, Hampshire County Council Youth Service and Groundwork Solent, at the opening of a super new multi use games area at Forton Recreation Ground, Gosport.
The launch event has been organised for Saturday 17 February where from 12pm to 3pm FREE coaching sessions will be available for young people. In addition, a bucking bronco activity will also be available.
A £50,000 cash injection from Barclays has been used to create this new multi use games area, offering football, basketball and netball. It is free and open access, so that it can be used by anyone at any time.
Organised sporting activities will also take place on the games court over the next two years. They will be run by Hampshire County Youth Service through a further £20,000 contribution funded by Barclays. Youth workers will also encourage young people to develop skills and volunteering opportunities which will be recognised by the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme.
‘This facility will enable youth workers to develop opportunities for young people which will make a positive contribution to both the community and local youth provision in the area,” said Maria Calway-Kennedy – Senior Youth Worker for Gosport.
“There are already young people interested in giving up their time to support sports sessions on a weekly basis, which is a fantastic start to the project.”
Chair of the Community and Environment Board at Gosport, Councillor Dennis Wright added, “This new facility will provide a much-needed recreation resource for young people in the Forton area and, with other recent improvements to the park, it has significantly increased the quality and range of facilities available to local people.”
Dave Donovan, Manager for Barclays Gosport branch said “Barclays believes that sport has a key role to play in revitalising our communities. Sites like Forton Road are central to this and we hope that the new games area will make sport more accessible and encourage a new way for participants to enjoy the facilities on offer.”
The overall funding has come out of a £30m investment pot for the Barclays Spaces for Sports initiative, which creates sustainable facilities across the UK.
The project is the result of a partnership between Barclays, Groundwork and the Football Foundation to create safe high quality accessible areas for local young people to play sport.
The new multi use games area is the latest in a series of improvements to Forton Park including a revamped play area, footpaths and a cable slide.
