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| Volunteers, Yate Town Council staff and councillors at YOSC |
The facilities at Yate Outdoor Sports Centre have been coming to the end of their working life, but a massive fund-raising campaign by Yate Town Council has now borne fruit.
The final piece of the funding jigsaw was put in place today to enable
campaigners to start work replacing all the athletics facilities at YOSC. The last part of funding came from "Section106 Monies" - that is money
developers have to hand over for sports facilities once they’ve sold
their houses.
This marks a key point in the 12 month funding campaign.
Project chair Chris Willmore explained
"The athletics at YOSC are used by local schools, hundreds of local young
people each week and host national events. For some events it is the
best facility in the country. But it was at the end of its life and
needed completely replacing"
"To our horror when the estimates came in they were £850,000. We’ve spent six months working flat out to raise the cash to raise the cash to save the Centre"
"We got backing from Sport England. And today we got confirmation of the
developer money - that means we have a total of £800,000"
"We’re having a sponsors event next week to which local big firms have been invited do were confident we’ll get the last £50,000, so we can now go out to tender and get cracking"
"This is great news for the amazing volunteers who run YOSC, all the
users and for the great project team who have been doing all the work. The project won’t just replace what is there - it will add facilities including making much better provision for paraathletics"
"This is the biggest single project Yate Town Council has ever undertaken.
We’re really grateful to all the sponsors, it is brilliant to have got
it all covered by grants so Yate Town Council won’t have to borrow the
cash, so we’re all excited but nervous. We’re determined to make every
penny work for our residents. Yate Town Council took over the track from South Glos council two years ago this week. It was in a sad state after
years of neglect. Now with the volunteers we’re turning it back into a
facility locals can be proud of. And we will look after it well - nobody
wants to have to raise this sort of money again in a hurr!"
"We are looking for sponsors for the last £50,000 - with opportunities to
name facilities eg the hammer cage - and have banners for sponsors. For
the right sum the whole sports complex - including national facilities
- could be named for a sponsor"
"We’re having a sponsors evening on 6 November. iI anyone who had not been
invited is interested in coming along please ring Lori Ramsey at Yate
Town Council on 01454 866506"
