Saffron Lane Athletics Track in Leicester has been transformed into a community sports hub thanks to the support of leading grassroots sport charity Sported.

The idea is the brainchild of the Richard Moore Sports CIC which has unveiled ambitious plans to provide a facility for various sports, wellbeing, community and school groups to use.

And it could be the first of many, Scott Moore from the community enterprise says.

“We’re trying to create a hub where it leads to multiple projects being delivered from buildings and sporting venues across Leicester and Leicestershire,” said Moore from the Richard Moore Sports CIC.

“It then opens up education, wellbeing, physical activity, community groups, community sessions, grassroots sports clubs, and we find if we can get them working in conjunction with each other and in collaboration with other partners, that they’ll be sustainable and long-lasting.

“We feel like we’ve got a social responsibility. We have made this sport inclusion offer through what we do as the CIC that would be anything from fitness classes, local sports groups, community groups, youth clubs, and offering a place for everyone to take part in something.”

The organisation has been backed Sported, who work with a network of close to 5,000 grassroots and community sports groups across the UK.

Sported delivers grant funding programmes, advice and guidance, as well as in-person support from local teams.

“It’s just over two years or so since we joined and they’ve been a great help to us,” Moore adds. “Our youngest participant is four and our oldest one is 82. We’ve expanded and grown in multiple ways. Found ways to engage with women, girls, young children, so it’s been expanding really quickly in the last two years. Quicker than I ever expected.

“They’ve helped us find funding pots, helped us find support networks and help to regulate ourselves better, and just really helped us connect with other sporting bodies in the area.”

Moore and his team hope that through the opening up of this hub and the creation of more across the area, that community groups delivering a range of activities can be kept alive and continue to benefit local people.

Cheddi Gore, East Midlands Manager for Sported, expressed his support, stating: “Richard Moore Sports CIC has recognised the potential of the Saffron Lane Sport Stadium facility as a vital hub for using sport to transform lives.

“Their newly established hub serves as a community asset, essential for removing barriers to participation in sport and physical activity.

“At Sported, we are committed to collaborating with organisations like Richard Moore Sports CIC, which truly deserve support to ensure they remain sustainable, accessible and affordable for everyone.”

Adds Moore: “If we weren’t offering some of these services at the cost that we were offering it, people wouldn’t have somewhere to go. They wouldn’t have something to do, they’d lose that social interaction.

“It’d be quite depressing really that a lot of community offerings would disappear.”

Find out more about The Richard Moore Sports CIC here.