A SPORTS development charity and West Devon Borough Council have worked in partnership to secure more than £8,000 for West Devon Rural sports project.        

The charity, Sported, has announced that through ongoing one-to-one business support and a grant it has made of £3,000, Okehampton Community Recreation Association (OCRA) has been able to extend a rural sports project that will benefit communities in West Devon. This is part of the wider OCRA development programme of sports opportunities in the community.

The project will see the delivery of sports opportunities across at least eight parishes in West Devon, aiming to engage with more than 300 young people and develop them as community volunteers.

Sported, plays the role of business angels, supporting voluntary and community sports groups and is dedicated to sport for development projects across the UK. The charity offers capacity building support and funding to voluntary and community sector projects which run activities for young people aged 11 to 25.

OCRA has successfully secured funding from Sported along with Active Devon's Active Villages programme, West Devon Borough Council and Okehampton United Charities to further strengthen the offer of support and activity development through Active Villages.

Active Villages is a development programme funded by Devon County Council, Sport England and Active Devon, which is supporting 156 identified parish communities that have a population between 500 and 2000 people across Devon to provide long term, sustainable sports participation opportunities.

The funding for OCRA will support them to extend this programme of delivery from just Active Villages phase one and two communities to ones that do not fall into this population range because they are too small or, like Okehampton, too large.

The OCRA / Active Villages project will provide young people who are rurally isolated with an opportunity to engage in positive activities that develop their skills and leadership.

The project will support groups and individuals in Okehampton alongside Active Village communities such as Northlew, Meavy and Whitchurch to deliver sports opportunities for young people aged 11 to 25. The project will aim to create sustainable sports activity in these rurally isolated communities.

Julian Wills, Sported regional manager South West said: 'OCRA have a great reputation for delivering quality sport development opportunities in West Devon, and by working in partnership with Active Devon and WDBC Sported has secured funding to enable them to extend delivery of this project for young people who are experiencing rural isolation.'