$1M grant for national training centre at Q.E.II Park

Press, 9 May 1981, Page 1

$1M grant for national training centre at Q.E.II Park

Queen Elizabeth II Park will become a national sports training centre with a §1 million boost from the Lottery Board for a gymnasium and accommodation facilities.

More than $400,000 would be raised locally and throughout New Zealand for the project, the Deputy Mayor of Christchurch (Cr Rex Lester) said after yesterday’s announcement.

Cr Lester chaired the most recent committee that has pushed for the training centre. “I believe this is the greatest thing that has happened to sport since the 1974 Commonwealth Games.” he said. “We believe that sportsmen and women will now have the opportunity to train in the best facilities, under the best conditions, in the Southern Hemisphere.” Lottery Board money would be available for the project over three years under the approval in principle announced by the Minister of Internal Affairs (Mr Highet).

Cr Lester said that construction of the facilities would be staged, with the gymnasium and one hostel wing being built first. The completed project will have four wings with a total of 128 beds.

The project’s viability had to be proved before it was built, he said. The Council of Recreation and Sport did not want to be faced with continuing costs, and the goal was to make the facilities selfsupporting.

The $450,000 gymnasium

would cover about 1400 sq. m. and be capable of including a full-size tennis court. There would be room for three volleyball courts and a basketball court.

Mr Highet said it made “a great deal of sense” to develop the centre at Q.E. 11 Park. For one thing, there* were already facilities worth $l5 million that could be used.

“A centre of this nature is necessary if many of our best sports people are to receive top-level training and encouragement,” Mr Highet said. Although the Government had already, helped local bodies through the Local Authorities Community Facilities Fund, money for national training centres had been lacking. Very few centres would ever be needed, in his opinion, but the Government was “trying to provide funds for centres which meet the criteria of national need and national use.”

A trust board will be formed to build and manage the training centre. Cr Lester said that his committee would meet t.,ain next week to plan activities over the next months. “We have to look at such things r.s design work, and there is a lot of fund-raising to do,” he said.

The trust board will include representatives of at

least three national sports bodies, and at least one each from athletics and swimming, as well as representation from the City Council and the Council for Recreation and Sport. Criteria proposed by the latter council must be accepted to ensure that the training centre was well controlled and used, Mr Highet said, and that the project’s full cost was raised by the trust board.

“We also have to prove that we will not be cutting into the service provided by local motels,” Cr Lester said. Mothers could see the possibility that a training ct..'.re could generate greater activity in the Christchurch area, and more business for them. “Their attitude has been a particularly responsible one,” Cr Lester said. “But they have expressed genuine concern that the operation must be a viable one.”

Training centre committee members have talked about various ways of raising money, and a “substantial donation” has been proposed by a wellknown company whose name has remained confidential so far.

Other gifts from businesses and sports bodies are expected.

Business firms may sponsor rooms within the hostel complex, and a national sports lottery has been discussed.