Borough hands out grants for sport and arts

Callum Brodie • Published 20 Oct 2008 09:00 0 Comments

Talented individuals from the Royal Borough will be rewarded with sports and arts grants at a glitzy Maidenhead awards ceremony.

The Mayor of the Royal Borough Cllr Dorothy Kemp will be joined at the ceremony by celebrity guest speaker for sport and former Olympic silver medallist Mark Richardson. Gwilym Simcock, one of the youngest composers to be commissioned by the BBC proms, will present the art awards.

The 7th Annual Celebration of Leisure and Cultural Achievement is set to hand out a record 77 grants, thanks to a £12,000 kitty of funding that will be split evenly between sports and the arts.

The introduction of the step-up in grants marks the start of the four-year Cultural Olympiad in the run up to London 2012.

Mark Taylor, Head of heritage and arts in the Royal Borough, explained: "This is an opportunity for those under 25 who are living or studying in the borough to have their achievements recognised publicly.

"The aim is to help them further their particular talent at times additional to school. We hope that the money will help provide sports kits, musical instruments and tuition fees."

Celebrities from the worlds of sport and art will present the grants at the ceremony at Maidenhead Town Hall on Wednesday night.

Another of the evening's awards is a trophy to be presented to the youngsters who earned third place representing the Royal Borough at the Twin Towns Sports Competition in Frascati, Italy.

Guests at the event will be treated to a dance show by year ten students from Windsor Girls School. Cello and singing performances will also come from two of the night's art winners.

Ceremony organisers are hoping to highlight the significance of the arts alongside sport during the countdown to 2012. The last time artistic talent was recognised with an Olympic medal was at the first London Olympics in 1908.

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This article appeared in Royal Borough Observer 20 Oct 08

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