North Herts grants

If you applied for a grant to cover costs as a county or regional player then you should have heard from North Herts District Council by now - or Sport North Herts as the body that runs this scheme is now known.

Apparently they have £5,000 per year to distribute to talented sports people in the district, with awards made every six months. The latest awards were decided at the end of June, with grants going to 23 of the 30 people who applied. Most of those who were rejected failed because they did not live in North Herts (the basic criteria!) while the rest "failed to provide sufficient evidence" (ie. you need to prove you played at the level you claim - a letter from your county or regional manager would do).

Awards in the past have been based on expenses, but now they are a simple flat rate dependent on the level reached (and also the amount of money available). This time the funding given ranged from £200 for those playing at national level, to £125 for regional representatives, and about £100 for those who played for the county - not huge sums, but enough to make an impact on costs (ie. paying for training fees and kit, for example).

Looking at the number of grants - and even the number of applicants - and thinking about how many people play sport in North Herts - either virtually half of all the grants went to our girls... or quite a few of you did not apply. If the latter is true, why not? After all, if a £100+ cheque is not sufficient incentive for you to put pen to paper then maybe we should put the club membership fees up next season!

The next round of grants will be decided in November - so if you get though county trails in September make sure you apply! The pot will be a bit smaller as the SNH have only £1.8k left, but that is still money that could be in your back pocket (or your parents' petrol tank) so remember to apply - Sport North Herts c/o NHDC. Incidentally, grants are also available to coaches - and come to that adult sports people.

If you live outside North Herts' boundaries then both East Herts and Stevenage have similar schemes - indeed the former at least has often been more generous than North Herts in the past! On the other hand Mid Beds don't give anyone a penny...