TAVISTOCK based Drake Judo Club is delighted to announce it has been awarded a bumper grant of £9,458 by Sport England via the National Lottery.

The money will go towards helping the club’s development, specifically in the area of youth judo.

Sport England, who distribute funding on behalf of the National Lottery to worthy causes, sanctioned the award after 12 months of hard work by the club in its application for funding.

Members of the club, which also has training bases in Plymouth and Sparkwell, recently earned individual success at the Commonwealth Championships 2019 held in Walsall in the Midlands – returning with a medal haul of four gold medals, one silver and two bronze.

DJC’s funds will be allocated to a brand new full competition-sized mat area which will be based at its Tavistock Dojo, three grappling dummies and 40 Drake Judo uniforms which will be put to good use by our new members

Junior coach Ross Taylor told Times Sport: ‘I’d like to thank the various individuals who helped with this application, from those who first helped with the concept of the idea to those who went out on the ground and researched what was required. A huge thanks to DJC treasurer and co-founder, Charles Knape, for his time and effort in helping us achieve this.

‘This year has indeed been an exciting one thus far and our club continues to go from strength to strength. We now look forward to our first session using our new mats!’