With the start of the Olympic Games under away, some £19.4 million of Olympic legacy programme funding has been awarded to 377 community sports groups across England through the Inspired Facilities Fund.

Sir Steve Redgrave, Britain's five-time Olympic rowing champion, announced on 17 July the winning projects which will receive the National Lottery money through Sport England's Inspired Facilities Olympic legacy fund. The announcement was made at Britannia Village Hall in Newham, which has received £50,000 to install sprung flooring and new lighting which will help athletes practicing sports such as gymnastics and judo.

The Inspired Facilities fund is part of Places People Play, Sport England’s programme to deliver a London 2012 legacy of increased mass participation in sport. Millions of pounds of National Lottery funding are being invested in up to 1,000 community sports projects between 2011 and 2014.

The Inspired Facilities Fund aims to help local clubs refurbish or upgrade their sports facility or to convert an existing building into something suitable for sports which will be open to everyone in the community. The goal is help develop sport in the local community.

Community and voluntary organisations which have missed out on the first two rounds will have another opportunity to apply for grants of between £20,000 and £50,000 as round three opens on 23 July and closes on 17 September 2012. A further two rounds will take place in 2013/14, and the dates for these will be announced at a later date.

To be eligible for a grant, applicants need to:
• Show how their project will keep and, ideally, attract more people to sport.
• Demonstrate that it is needed and wanted by the local community.
• Explain how it will cover its running costs and remain open for sporting use for years to come.

Preference will be given to projects or organisations that:
• Have not previously received an individual sports Lottery grant worth £10,000 or more.
• Offer local opportunities to people who do not currently play sport, or
• Are the only public sports facility in the local community.

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