Pirates Riding High After Cash Boost

On December 22, 2011

£25,000 has been awarded to the club who are based at the London Road Gateway BMX sports site, one of the 200 community sports sites built as part of the Barclays Spaces for Sports (BS4S) programme. The grant will fund the installation of floodlights and help ensure a bright future lies ahead for the former British Club Champions.

The funding demonstrates Barclays commitment to ensure that all of its community sports sites have a long-term future and remain manageable for local volunteers and authorities to run.

Barclays Spaces for Sports is a global community sports programme which uses the positive power of sport to revitalise disadvantaged communities as well as to tackle key social issues. Since launching the UK programme in 2004 in partnership with the Football Foundation, the Barclays Spaces for Sports programme has benefitted more than half a million people in socially deprived regions.

The sustainability grant that the Preston Pirates BMX Club has been awarded follows a previous development grant from BS4S in 2007 worth over £20,000. This enabled the club to provide inclusive coaching sessions and race events for the local community whilst also competing with the top BMX clubs in the country, having to date produced numerous National and European BMX champions as well as a World BMX Champion.

Despite the numerous accolades, the club is extremely limited in its capacity to deliver sessions at the London Road Gateway BMX track during the autumn and winter months, with sessions restricted to a single Saturday afternoon. It became increasingly apparent that such limitations hindered the club in its aim to reach a sustainable future as one of the premier BMX facilities in the UK.

The new BS4S grant will enable floodlights to be installed which will allow more coaching sessions and riders on the track in the winter months. The Preston Pirates will now look to secure further external funding to develop the club with the employment of a BMX Development Officer a top priority.

Ian Brookes, Club Coach and Club Chairman or the Preston Pirates BMX Club, said: “The first Barclays Spaces for Sports grant we received allowed Preston Pirates to develop into one of the top clubs in the country and produce World Champions, however not being able to offer sessions all year round limited us as a club.

“We are very excited to be getting another £25,000 which will expand the range of opportunities to local young people and allow the Preston Pirates to develop further. We thank Barclays Spaces for Sports and the Football Foundation for its continuing support.”

Kirk Harrison, head of Barclays Spaces for Sports, added: “A key part of our commitment at Barclays Spaces for Sports is to deliver a lasting legacy to communities through the use of our sites. We’ve been working closely with the Football Foundation throughout the programme to achieve this and the additional funding Preston Pirates BMX Club has received is an example of our commitment to our projects and the local communities.”

The partnership between Barclays and the Football Foundation sees one of the largest corporate banks in the world joining forces with one of the leading UK sports charities to help provide opportunities for communities to engage, learn and develop through sport.