Worthing Cricket Club awarded funding to help during COVID-19 pandemic

The outbreak of the virus and the consequent shutdown of businesses as of March 23 has left the sport and physical activity sector facing a period of uncertainty.

In response, on March 31 Sport England announced a £195m package to help the sport and physical activity sector through covid-19. Within the package is a £20m Community Emergency Fund, of National Lottery money to deliver immediate funding to those who have a role in supporting the nation to be active but are experiencing short-term financial hardship or the ceasing of operations due to the impact of coronavirus.

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The grant will allow Worthing to cover their fixed costs for the recent period of inactivity, which is a direct result of the current pandemic.

Worthing CC chairman Tim Dunn said: “We are very grateful for the support from Sport England, as we are currently unable to raise the income to enable us to self-fund our fixed costs. It is a real shame that we are yet to return to our sport, but we remain hopeful that we will get back to playing some cricket in the near future. In the meantime, this grant will alleviate our concerns around paying for essential ongoing costs.

Tim Hollingsworth, Sport England’s Chief Executive, said: “As the body responsible for the growth of sport and physical activity participation, we want the vital grassroots organisations that make sport and physical activity happen in this country to not just to come through this crisis but to be in a position to thrive again in the future. The £20m Community Emergency fund, made possible by National Lottery players is part of a multimillion pound package of support we are providing to ease the pressure on a huge number of the organisations who are central to the nation’s health and wellbeing.

“We are proud to be able to provide vital funding to Worthing Cricket Club to help it through these extremely challenging times.”

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