Prime Minister pledges to support community sport

23 November 2006

Prime Minister Tony Blair today formally announced that he is to become the patron of a London sports club, a move welcomed by Sport England. 
 

The Prime Minister is holding a reception at No 10 Downing Street today to mark the honouring of a commitment he gave in April 2006 to become the patron of a London sports club if 100 other public figures joined him.

Tony Blair will meet for the first time representatives from Westway Sport Centre, which he has chosen to be patron of. Westway is a Sport England Lottery funded community sports project in west London run by a charitable trust. The PM has decided to support this multi-sport centre for its sporting excellence, which includes outstanding tennis facilities. To support the club in the months to come it is likely that he will present prizes at competitive events, support fundraising efforts and visit local partnership schools.

 
The pledge was successfully met in July with 109 people adding their signatures including; Clare Balding (West London Sharks Rugby League Club), Ken Livingstone (London Tigers), Jason Leonard (Charlton Park RFU) and Tessa Jowell (Positive Education Learning Organisation). 
 
The PM’s office has been working with Sport England and sports representative bodies to pair the individuals who have signed the pledge with sports clubs across London. 
 
Stephen Baddeley, Interim Chief Executive of Sport England, said: 
 
"Supporting the Prime Minister's Community Sports Club Pledge Scheme is important to Sport England. This is a fantastic way of raising the profile of community sport in the run up to 2012 and bringing people with expertise in Government, business, and sport into community sports clubs to support their vital work. We are delighted that the Westway is taking part in the scheme. This Sport England Lottery funded centre is a fantastic example of sport at the heart of the community and is providing opportunities for thousands of people to get active and achieve their potential in sport. We hope the London model will provide a way forward for others to follow.” 
 
The new patrons’ involvement with clubs is being set up to ensure that the clubs capitalise on the increased interest in sport in the run up to the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games. The scheme is also geared towards helping sport benefit local communities in a number of ways, ranging from reducing obesity, tackling truancy, improving safety and supporting schools. The new patrons have a valuable role to play in delivering all of these objectives. 
 

Source: Sport England website