Dame Katherine Grainger opened the £8.8 million Sports Academy at Hartpury a few weeks ago and it's left us a little nostalgic.
This was the first capital appeal project Orchard Fundraising was involved in at the beginning of our relationship with Hartpury College and University. It has been gratifying to see the sports facility coming to life, helping to improve the education and training of students whilst supporting the health and wellbeing of people in the surrounding area.
Dame Katherine, the first British woman to win medals at five successive Olympic Games, including gold at London 2012, is now chair of UK Sport and described the state-of-the-art facility as 'a place where magic happens'.
The modern building features hi-tech equipment which is available nowhere else in the UK, specialist technology used by Premier League and NFL clubs in the United States, and a multi-sports hall featuring integrated cameras.
Dame Katherine told the 120 guests at the official opening of the Sports Academy: “The feel of this place is unlike anywhere else I have been, and I’ve competed in high-performance sport for 20 years."
The centre also hosts a biomechanics laboratory, rehabilitation suite, a human performance laboratory, and a multi-sports hall. It provides students at Hartpury with access to the very latest tools for research into sports science, as well as sports training and fitness.
The vision wasn't only to allow Hartpury University and Hartpury College students access to amazing educational facilities but also to develop new sports opportunities and facilities for the wider Gloucestershire community, sports organisations, clubs and local schools. Aiming to establish healthy attitudes and habits of physical activity in all.
We are proud to have been part of such an exciting venture and delighted to have gained support from The Garfield Western Foundation to enable wider community participation and access to the Sports Academy. We are looking forward to seeing the sports facilities in use by a wide range of groups and benefitting from the hard work that everyone has put into this project.
If you have a project which you think we may be able to assist you with, need some advice around capital appeals or fundraising, then please do get in touch with us for a free initial consultation.
Credit: Hartpury University