Hull: Angus Irvine Playing Fields Legacy Fund

The Playing Fields Legacy Fund was a charity established by the late Angus Irvine in 2012, prompted by what he felt was a failure of the 2012 London Olympics to provide the promised legacy for grass-roots sport. Over a period of 5 years the charity, led by Angus, raised hundreds of thousands of pounds and invested the funds into vital facilities for scores of local sports clubs.

Fundamental to the way Angus ran the fund was a passion for maximising resources for grass-roots sport, helping volunteers develop community sports facilities and enabling team-sports to reach many more deprived young people who might otherwise be attracted by gangs or anti-social behaviour.Sadly, Angus passed away in 2015 but since his death the work has continued, led by the committed trustees of the charity and by his children and grand-children.

We believe every child should have access to the developmental and health benefits of sport and every community should have a thriving, inclusive and sustainable sporting offer.

To achieve this:

We develop community sports clubs, equipping local people to provide transformational development opportunities for children and young people, irrespective of their background or ability.

We build, equip and up-skill local sports clubs and turn them into thriving local facilities, connected into other local partners such as schools, disabled people’s organisations and other local charities – all working together to deliver real change and opportunity for local young people.

We train and support volunteer sports coaches and club leaders in a range of vital skills such as establishing new sessions to attract more deprived and disabled young people, building personal development pathways for participants towards education or employment and building the financial sustainability of the club so it can grow and serve more local young people for years to come. 

We are the only charity in the UK today focussed entirely on doing this and we have developed a unique model that is measurable, cost-effective and replicable. This club development model has been recognised with a number of awards, including most recently Best Sports Charity, Community or CSR initiative at the 2017 Sports Business Awards.

During the 2019 year we gave 6,147 disadvantaged and disabled young people access to the health, wellbeing and developmental benefits of community sport. 

For more information or to check if you are eligible for the Angus Irvine Playing Fields Fund please visit their website here https://www.accesssport.org.uk/Pages/Category/angus-irvine-playing-fields-fund