Sports Council for Wales Grant

SWANSEA YACHT AND SUB AQUA CLUB
SECURES SPORTS COUNCIL LOTTERY CASH INJECTION

Members of Swansea Yacht and Sub Aqua Club are set to reap the benefits of a cash investment into the health of the region as it was today announced that the Sports Council of Wales’ Community Chest scheme is ploughing £1000 into the development and training of members to work towards becoming qualified scuba diving instructors.

SYSAC Divers with their Sports Council for Wales
Community Chest grant cheque.

Community Chest, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, is a National Lottery grant managed by the Sports Council for Wales and supported locally by Swansea County Council. It is designed to encourage more people to become more physically active, more often.

Since its inception in 1999, communities across the length and breadth of Wales have been investing heavily in sports and physical activity projects.

The Sports Council for Wales has recently raised the level of grant available. Organisations keen to develop sport and physical activity in Wales can receive up to £1000 for a qualifying project over a 12 month project, and Swansea Yacht and Sub Aqua Club instructor training project is one of the latest to benefit.

And by harnessing the pulling power that sports clubs in particular possess within the local community, the Sports council for Wales is now providing them with extra ammunition by making them eligible for two Community Chest awards in any financial year.

This project will enable us to increase our membership over the next 18 months to the local area and this increase in members will require additional instructors to provide pool, classroom, open water training and other skills.

SYSAC Divers with their Sports Council for Wales
Community Chest grant cheque.

The main benefit to the local area is that we will be able to have a larger intake of people who would like to learn to scuba dive with us.
We currently have two Try Dive events each year and the recent Try Dive event held on Wednesday 7th October attracted over 30 participants and as a result we have enrolled 16 people onto the BSAC Ocean Diver Course.

Club Training Officer, Mark Evans explains: “The Community Chest funding has provided us with much needed funds towards instructor training. We need instructors within the club structure to ensure its survival, as without them we cannot provide the training needed for new diving members, and to existing members who want to progress their diving skills.”

Sports clubs are a vital part of the fabric of community life. They, and the people behind the scenes, have the opportunity to source and mould young talent into the stars of the future and instil the core values of hard work, belief and – above all – enjoyment of the sport.

Community Chest funding is helping to create and support new sporting opportunities for young people all across Wales. Funding can be used to train coaches and administrators, small-scale equipment grants for junior development, the establishment of competitive structures for juniors within the community, junior club start-up costs and support for sporting events and festivities.

Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, Philip Carling said:
“Community Chest has been and continues to be a huge success and is very popular throughout Wales. The increase in funding and the greater scope of the scheme will increase its effectiveness.

“The simplest ideas often deliver the biggest impact. Panels based in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales hold the purse strings and have delegated authority to award grants to worthwhile projects. We want to hear of bright ideas and projects that will get more people active more often.”