Nottinghamhsire Powerchair FC in Mansfield has been awarded £13,688 of National Lottery funding from Sport England’s Community Emergency Fund towards to replace batteries on all club powered wheelchairs and cover insurance 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 allow Nottinghamshire Powerchair FC to start back when its safe to do so, with the Powered Wheelchairs not being charged due to access the batteries will need replacing, the club would have had to relay on players cover the £500 per chair cost which would mean the club would take longer to get going.   

Ricky Stevenson, Chairperson of NPFC said:

This is fantastic support for our club, this is our 15^th Year since we formed and was the first time we did not have a plan in place, has nobody could plan for this, these vital funds will enable the club to start activities when its safe to do so.

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 Nottinghamshire Powerchair FC to help it through these extremely challenging times.

Update: Since uploading this post, we have been featured on the Chad newspaper website and in the Chad newspaper. The Chad is a Mansfield based news company which started in 1952. You can find the article that was published here.