The National Lottery 30 Years | East Kilbride
The National Lottery celebrates 30 years since the first draw held on 19 November 1994. We spoke to East Kilbride about the funding they received to help them deliver an uplifting gymnastics experience for all.
Since it began, The National Lottery has raised over £50 billion and awarded more than 690,000 grants to good causes. These include everything from environmental projects and local communities to the arts and sport. Gymnastics in Scotland has benefitted from this throughout this time, including East Kilbride. They shared their funding story and experience with us from start to finish.
“The funding we received was the sportscotland Sport Facility Fund backed by The National Lottery. We had been advised of the scheme by Scottish Gymnastics facility team at the time of Steven Maloney and Chris Lumsden.
“The funding came at THE most appropriate time for the club as it was just at the time we really needed help to make the move to a new facility. We could not have given the quality experience required at the time of the move if it hadn’t been for The National Lottery.”
How the funding developed the club
“We had outgrown our old facility, so the funding was used to buy additional gymnastics equipment prior to moving into our new facility in Colvilles Place. The equipment purchased was to ensure we could encourage children of all ages and abilities to participate in gymnastics from local to surrounding areas. We could also operate more classes simultaneously in a safe and friendly manner knowing that we had purchased the appropriate equipment.
“We had children who had been on our waiting list for six months or more. Moving to the new gym allowed us to increase participation in our recreational classes, in turn growing our membership from 600 to the 1400 members we have now. “
Why funding sport recreationally to international level is so important
“Funding helps us increase participation in gymnastics and helps us, as a club achieve our stated charitable intents. The intents are not just the participation in the sport but to increase children’s confidence, health and wellbeing along with allowing better social interactions. We have found that friendships made through gymnastics can be friendships made for life.
The timing of the funding coincided with the Scottish Government’s Girls in Sports initiative. Gymnastics for better or worse has a female bias but does encourage more girls to stay within sport – something we need to encourage all children to do. The club has benefitted many times over with the retention of girls in late teens into early 20s staying either as competitive gymnasts or moving into coaching.”
The benefits to the wider club community beyond the gymnasts
“As gymnast membership has grown, we have had to increase the number of coaches thus increasing more employment opportunity than we could offer before. Several administration staff, a facilities manager and finance manager also had to be taken on board. Many of the staff have children previously or currently attending the club really fostering a family feel and bond beyond the normal employer/employee relationship. All staff want the club to succeed and be the best for the gymnasts.”
Happy 30 years and a huge thank you to the National Lottery – you’re a game changer!