A sports club at the heart of a North Yorkshire community is using a grant from Broadacres to help extend its reach.

The Bedale Sports Club and Community Centre is already visited by hundreds of local people each week who use the cricket, football, squash, croquet, tennis and running facilities.

Now the club, which was founded in 1976, aims to raise £55,000 to extend the clubhouse function room to offer social activities and combat isolation and loneliness felt in the community.

Activities would include keep fit, knit, and natter, ballroom dancing, cookery classes, mixed crafts, singing for pleasure, art classes, counselling and listening relaxation classes.

In addition, the extension would allow the club to host wedding receptions and other functions.

The £500 grant from Broadacres Community Development Fund has taken the club over the halfway mark in its fundraising drive. The fund supports local organisations, groups, and projects in areas where Broadacres has homes, and grants are approved by the Association’s own residents.

Sports Club spokesman Martyn Coombs said: “Lockdown has made us all realise how much we value sports and other social activities and the important role our facilities play in the lives of so many people.

“We have been part of this community for over 40 years and see this extension as the next stage in our development, allowing the club to support a host of new activities for people of all ages.”

Mr Coombs added: “Everyone recognises the importance of sports and social activities but without the generous support of organisations such as Broadacres, clubs like ours would not be able to continue to provide them.”

The Broadacres grants are approved by the Association’s own residents, via a Community Development Fund Panel.

Broadacres resident Mags Crook, who is on the Panel, said: “Many Broadacres residents use the facilities at the sports club, so we were only too happy to be able to support the planned extension and we’re delighted that our grant has taken the club over the half-way mark for its fundraising.

“We are looking forward to the facility being able to support even more local people in the coming years.”

Applications for Broadacres’ 2021/22 Community Development Fund are still being accepted and people/organisations can visit www.broadacres.org.uk/customer-area/getting-involved/community-development-fund to find out more.

Picture caption: Martyn Coombs outside the sports centre in Bedale.

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