Sport Arena Will Make a Lotto People Happy
18 Sep 2006

Lottery cash has helped launch a new £864,000 sports project aimed at boosting health standards.

A multi-use games area has been created at Fellgate Primary School, in Oxford Way, Jarrow.

Most of the funding for the state-of-the-art project has come from the Big Lottery Fund's £750m New Opportunities for PE and Sport Programme, with the rest coming from South Tyneside Council.

Both pupils and members of the public will benefit from the new sports facility, which was officially opened by South Tyneside Council leader Coun Paul Waggott and the Mayor of South Tyneside, Coun Ed Malcolm.

Valuable

Coun Waggott, who also represents the Fellgate and Hedworth ward, said: "This multi-use games area will be a valuable addition to health and fitness resources in South Tyneside.

"It offers great ball sports provision, with a football pitch that can be used by teams or seven players or broken down into three five-a-side grids, as well as netball, hockey and tennis.

"There are also superb new changing facilities which will really make a difference to the people using
them."

Coun Malcolm added: "The games area will be used by pupils, not just of Fellgate Primary but also the nearby St Joseph's RC Primary.

"And the facility will be available for general use in the evenings and at weekends through Hedworthfield Community Association.

"In this way, it will provide access to high-quality sports facilities for hundreds of users, and it will develop a new role as a local hub for PE and sport."

The council's sports development team arranged a series of sports activities to keep pupils at the school entertained during the official launch.
Emma Snowdon, Big Lottery Fund regional manager for the north east, said: "This new facility is just one of hundreds of similar projects we have funded in the north east.

"Our funding is changing the face of sporting provision in our schools and communities, providing many more young people with the opportunity to engage in a range of physical activities."