Flood Relief Funding from Sport England 

Has your club been damaged by flooding?

If your sailing club or facilities have been damaged as a result of the flooding and storms, you may be eligible to apply for funding from the Sport England Flood Relief Fund (FRF).

Since the launch of the programme on 27 February 2014 Sport England has been offering emergency funding of up to £2,000 to help to restore sports facilities. This is for those facilities needing funding to clean up and get up and running quickly. (To find out about the Sport England emergency funding click here)  

The Flood Relief Fund (FRF) is for those facilities with more extensive damage which will take longer and are more costly to repair. The fund will remain open until the autumn to ensure that those who are currently unable to assess the damage will not lose out.  

Typically grants of between £5,000 and £25,000 are also available; however, Sport England reserves the right to award a higher amount in extreme cases. If you have had funding from the Emergency Fund, this does not preclude you from applying to the Flood Relief Open Fund.

Clubs who have been affected

At Christmas the water started to rise at river-based Desborough Sailing Club in Middlesex and the club was so badly affected by the flooding that they were unable to see their jetties for the next three months. All the roads nearby were completely flooded and the changing rooms were submerged in three to four foot of water.

Anxious that they had week long sailing courses taking place in early April on the adjacent lake, the club applied for the emergency Flood Relief Funding.

Commodore Richard Broughton explains: “We were awarded with £2,000 of funding to get the club back up and running. This helped us to buy 80 metres of grass matting so we are now able to run our boats over this. We were also able to protect the carkpark from future flooding with 20 tonnes of shingle as well as a skip to help with the clear up and repairs.

"We started club sailing again on 23 rd March having missed eight of our 10 frostbite series races. Thankfully the club is now back in working order thanks to the funding which is fantastic and we are also hoping to have some success with some Inspired Facilities funding to improve and refurbish our changing rooms.”  

Reading Sailing Club at Sonning Eye has also been awarded £2,000 from the Flood Relief Fund to repair the club infrastructure and services which were badly damaged in the floods and storms over the last few months.

They will use the £2,000 award to repair their slipways, bank erosion and access road using JCB and road planings as well as the clubhouse infrastructure including the water supply from a borehole, testing water quality and carrying out sewage system pump repairs.  

Jon Clay from Reading Sailing Club said: “We are delighted that Sport England has awarded this funding to us which will allows us to repair the club house and ensure the slipways are safe for use by our members and re-open our club so that the community can once more benefit from these fantastic facilities.’

To find out more information about Sport England Flood Relief Funding and how to apply click here