Greenham Common Trust Gives £100,000 in Funding to Revitalise Popular Park

Douai Park Recreation Association (DPRA) has received a welcome grant from Greenham Common Trust to help towards a new pavilion.

Douai Park, based in Upper Woolhampton, near Reading, is popular with sports clubs and schools from West Berkshire. The fields are well-used as a training ground for football, cricket and tennis clubs, and other groups.

The original pavilion was built as a war memorial to former Douai School pupils who died in WWI. The new pavilion will honour their memory, and will feature a memorial plaque. The estimated cost of the new building is approximately £800,000.

Greenham Common Trust has donated £100,000 from its Community Building Improvement Project and Glenn Clarkson, chairman of Greenham Common Trust’s distribution committee, said: “The future of fantastic sporting facilities, and investing properly in new athletes, is in the interest of all of us.

“We welcome applications like this, as it gives insight into the importance of the right grounds and playing fields to support new ambitions, as well as recognising the heritage of what came before.

“We want to hear about these causes, so we can do our bit to help. We look forward to seeing the new pavilion at Douai Park once complete.”

After the closure of Douai School in 1999, DPRA was established to look after the interests of the park.

Work finally began earlier this month and the association is looking forward to this redevelopment so the area will be truly fit for purpose for new generations of athletes and sports enthusiasts.

David Howe, from DPRA, said: “It is a wonderful sight to see the first work being undertaken to build a new pavilion at Douai Park. A great deal of effort has been put in to raising the funds and the association is extremely grateful to everyone who has contributed.

“The funds from Greenham Common Trust, along with other contributions, meant that the association could plan for a community room along with the sports facilities so the new pavilion has wider uses, aside from sport.

“The new structure will guarantee sport can continue to be played at Douai Park, which is wonderful news for the local and the wider communities of West Berkshire.”

Fundraising began with generous donations from the local community, and was followed by other grants from Sport England; The Football Foundation; Veolia; The Douai Society and Douai Old Boys. Since 2012, the community has worked together to raise funds and add to the overall target, and now work is underway, the association hopes the new pavilion will be open in December.

The deadline for Greenham Common Trust’s next reactive grant round is Friday 18th March, for consideration in April. To find out more about the DPRA project and others, please visit: findmeagrant.org