Accrington Stanley Community Trust has been awarded £8000 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund towards its efforts during the on-going 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.

The grant will assist Accrington Stanley Community Trust to help cover utilities, running costs and maintenance costs for the Charity. It will also ensure that the Charity is in a better position to resume activity and help the community over the coming months.

Martin Fearon, Accrington Stanley Community Trust’s Chief Executive, said:

‘’We are extremely grateful that Sport England have awarded us a grant of £8000 to help our Charity in these difficult times. We have seen most of our projects come to a standstill and income has dried up over the last few weeks. This grant will help us keep the Charity running in the near future and help us prepare for reconnecting our community through our varied projects once they are able to resume.’’

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 Accrington Stanley Community Trust to help it through these extremely challenging times.”