Sport England’s Chairman, Richard Lewis, handed over the cheque to Centre Manager Mark Murray-Brown (pictured left) who is going to put the fund towards a new safety boat.

In an interview with the Chichester Observer Mark said: “The funding was much needed.

“We have a wide range of young people at the centre and we are upgrading the facilities for them. This includes showers and toilets.

“Hopefully the work will be completed by Easter. We haven’t got quite enough safety cover to do all the range of boat activities so we are getting a five-and-a-half metre RIB.”

Cobnor Activities Centre was just one of 71 sports groups in the South East to benefit from the £135m Places People Play National Lottery-funded legacy programme to make the Olympics part of our local communities this year.

Mr Murray-Brown said: “We are looking forward to the Olympics.

“There are some positive schemes which include a day in July where everyone is encouraged to go afloat.

“We have a programme to involve adults with sailing and we will be starting up a range of programmes from Easter for mountain biking, climbing, canoeing and sailing.”

Sport England’s chairman Richard Lewis said: “For hundreds of clubs and tens of thousands of people, 2012 will be the year their local sports facilities got better.

“We’ve had unprecedented demand for this fund, which has really hit the mark with sports clubs in the southeast. It shows we’re offering the sporting legacy that people want.”

We’re really looking forward to the improvements and the arrival of the new powerboat, which will give a boost to our safety boat fleet and make learning to sail at Cobnor an even better experience.

Jamie recently scored 1,266 points in Horsham, winning him the county under-18 champion’s title. Before that he set a new Sussex record score of 1,274, winning the under-14 class and under-18 handicap categories at the Sheila Brown Memorial shoot at Mole Valley. He also came third in the UK championships, under-14 level, held at Lilleshall. Now the local archer is off to Northern Ireland and beyond.

“He is consistently setting himself new standards”, says proud dad Nick. You can also set yourself new standards by improving your archery skills at Cobnor Activities Centre. We offer many more outdoor activities as well, many of which can be sampled on our Summer Camps and Multi-activity Camps held during the Summer Holidays. Check out our Scheduled Courses page to see what’s still available.