The Sport and Leisure team successfully delivered six Funding Surgeries during 2012, supporting dozens of city sports clubs and community groups to successfully apply for over £260,000.00 of national funding ensuring the legacy of London 2012 is firmly embedded in the city. 

Carrying on from the great work done in 2011, the funding has supported the development of almost 100 separate sport and physical activity projects across Nottingham, positively impacting on the lives of thousands of city residents.

Funding is paramount to the successful development of any new projects and initiatives and plans are underway for more surgeries in 2013 to continue this invaluable work - watch this space for more details!

Here are some of the individual community success stories for 2012.

Wollaton Sports Association was awarded £50,000 from the Sport England Inspired Facilities Fund to build new, additional changing facilities for the club, modernizing and improving its facilities.

Bilborough Community Boxing Club  was awarded £47,061 through Inspired Facilities to upgrade its facilities. The funding will be used to install a new heating system, strengthen the roof to accommodate punching bags and extend the facility to allow for new male and female changing areas.

The Somali Unity & Cultural Centre is a voluntary organisation supporting over 40 young people across Nottingham, primarily through language classes and homework clubs. The group wanted to further support and encourage Somali young people to overcome barriers to participation and take part in sport regularly at local facilities in the community. They were awarded £7,640 through Sport England's Small Grants programme to deliver a 12 month project of Football and Netball sessions led by experienced Coaches, as well as supporting young people of all ages to learn to swim at their local leisure centre. The group will also use the award to support three volunteers through sports coaching qualifications to ensure that they can continue to deliver activities beyond the funding.

The Forest Green Youth Cricket Club was awarded £5,497 to grow their club from casual and recreational cricket sessions to an established competitive club. The club are open to all sections of the community but particularly target young people in Forest Fields and Hyson Green who are have been excluded or disengaged from education. They will use the award to set up a structured programme of coaching and regular competitive opportunities by entering both One Day Cricket and T20 leagues. Five young people will be recruited as volunteers and will be supported to undertake Level 1 Cricket Coaching qualifications that will support the clubs growth.

Stingrays Swimschool received £6,300 to develop a new junior swim school at Djanogly Community Leisure Centre for young people on the Autistic spectrum. This is an extension of provision at Beechdale Swimming Centre as the current swim school is at maximum capacity and these new sessions provide a central City provision. Funding is for facility hire, CPD and specialist equipment.

Scubanauts Octopush received £5,200 to bring the new sport of Octopush to the City, involving young people and adults. The funding will pay for facility hire and specialist sport equipment at Beechdale Swimming Centre.

Redhill Ladies Hockey Club successfully secured £4,849 to develop a new girls section for the club based at Southglade Leisure Centre. The funding will pay for facility hire, new equipment, CPD and competition costs.

Nottingham Elders Forum secured £6750 to provide physical activity sessions for their members which included: Ice Skating, Table Tennis, Indoor Bowls, Line Dancing, Belly Dancing, Aqua Aerobics and Boccia.

In addition Sport and Leisure have secured further legacy funding, through exciting partnership projects for the next 3 years for:

Schools Out - in partnership with Notts County Football in the Community -  the £1.00 a day school holiday activity scheme providing a wide range of activities for young people across the city and in communities for children and young people aged 8 - 15 yrs - £330,210.00

 Ability Nottingham Inclusion Programme - a partnership project with Oak Field Specialist Sports College, which provides new opportunities for young people with a disability through participation in sport, leisure and physical activity within a mainstream programme. Via a network of Inclusion Support Buddies working on a one-to-one basis with individuals or in a small group the programme will help young people enjoy sport and physical activities during school holidays and term time - £256,413.00.