Helmsley sports club plan gets off start line (From Gazette & Herald)

Helmsley sports club plan gets off start line

10:14am Wednesday 17th October 2012 in News

A LONG-awaited scheme to upgrade one of Helmsley’s most popular facilities – the community and sports club – is underway.

The scheme, which is likely to cost £250,000, is to be the focus of a house- to-house questionnaire in the market town.

The aim, said town councillor Chris Parkin, a key member of the management committee, is to get the views of residents on what they want the complex, in Baxtons Lane, to provide.

The panoramic playing field already has facilities for bowls, tennis, swimming, football and cricket, but the sports vailion, changing rooms and other facilites are worn out, said Coun Parkin, and as a result a major improvement scheme is needed.

The town council is responsible for the club as the trustee of Helmsley Recreational Charity, which came into being in 2007 following the merger of the Feversham Memorial and John Atkinson Memorial Playing Fields charities.

Coun Parkin said the town authority had set up the management committee to take the project forward, and as well as councillors it includes representative of the vaious sports clubs.

One of the first parts of the upgrade is to build an extension to provide new showers and toilets as well as changing facilities for sports teams.

The aim is also to enhance its use by the community as a whole, said Coun Parkin, and with this in mind a plan is being drawn up which will enable a mobile partition to be created.

The new scheme follows the collapse some time ago of the £2 million-plus project to build a state-of-the-art centre which fell at the 11th hour because of cuts in Sports Council funding, he added.

However, thanks to Ryedale District Council agreeing to provide £50,000 funding for each of the next three years, and applications being made for funding grants to a wide range of organisations, the management committee is hopeful that their plans will become a reality, said Coun Parkin.

One part of the scheme is to revamp the outdoor swimming pool, and a Bonfire Night event is to be staged to boost the coffers, in addition to staging another Helmsley 10k next year following the success of this year’s race which raised thousands of pounds.