Top-notch lottery sports facilities

Rosie went ‘back to school' at Park Primary to sample the results of a £58.8 million Big Lottery Fund investment into school and community sports facilities in Yorkshire and the Humber.

Rosie joined pupils and staff at the school’s Lottery-funded Multi Use Games area to celebrate the success of the Big Lottery Fund’s New Opportunities for PE and Sport (NOPES) programme.

Over 156 sports facilities across the Yorkshire and the Humber region have benefited from NOPES Lottery good cause funding, offering a wide range of activities from trampolining to archery and football to cricket.

Park Primary School received £123,136 to provide a new floodlit multi-use games area. The area is marked out for basketball, mini-tennis, 5-a-side football and netball. The project will benefit 400 pupils from Park Primary and 100 pupils from other schools. The facility also receives 3000 visits a year from the local community.

Across the UK over £750 million from the Big Lottery Fund’s NOPES programme has been invested into close to 3,000 separate sites, for facilities ranging from outdoor activity centres to new or refurbished sports facilities for use by both schools and local communities.

Rosie said:

“I am absolutely delighted that Doncaster and the region has benefited from this investment in sports. Multi-Use Games Areas like this one are really useful, not only because they give young people something to do outside of school but because they provide an alternative and healthy means of activity for people in the surrounding community - it is great news for Park Primary and for Wheatley.”

Mike Pagett, Headteacher, Park Primary School said:

“This has been an excellent opportunity for the school to create a facility that is used by the whole community. The games area is used by school, clubs and other Wheatley residents. It is here for everyone to enjoy- if it results in fitter, happier children and adults, it has been well worth the effort”