TOWNHILL'S national waterski and wakeboard centre has received £66,000 from the Glasgow Commonwealth Games Legacy 2014 fund.

Putting the cash towards improvements worth £132,000, the plans are to build better changing facilities, recreational space and disability access, an enhanced reception and an all-weather area allowing them to provide an indoor and outdoor coaching zone.

Waterski & Wakeboard Scotland chief Alan Murray said, “We are delighted to receive this award and that the 2014 Active Legacy Fund has reached out to non-Commonwealth Games sports outwith the Glasgow area. It is just phenomenal that we have been given this to build a high-quality, bigger, brighter and user-friendly facility.

“Total project costs will be around £132,000 and this is a 50 per cent award from the legacy fund. As well as using our own resources, we will also be seeking other funding partners to assist with this much-needed project.

“Timescale for the project will be dependent on the usual pre-work issues and we would hope to physically start on the building late autumn and crack on over the close season where the inevitable disruption will have minimum impact.

“Spreading the fund throughout Scotland allows every sportsman and woman to benefit from the very successful summer Games.

“As the national governing body for the sport in Scotland and in line with our strategic plan 2016-20, we are keen to embrace a fully inclusive and diverse approach to delivering our sport in the community, not only within our catchment area but Scotland-wide. As a seven-day-a-week operation, with the highest qualified staff, we can deliver this at an affordable price point attracting this wider audience. We will also be able to cater for much larger groups travelling together.

“We deliver a UK-wide ‘cutting edge’ youth development programme, running courses during and outwith school curriculum. We work very closely with Active Schools and we intend to expand that.

“We host a full programme of national competitions throughout the season, enabling a clear progression pathway and also the national training centre for UKCC and other accredited coach/driver/cable operator education programmes. These upgrades will allow us to build greater capacity for coach education delivery. We also work with Active Schools, which can be about 20/30 kids in a group, but we can only take two or three kids out at one time. This fund will allow us to teach bigger groups.”