Struggling North Notts Arena given £50,000 lifeline

It will help the community sports and entertainment venue diversify with an internet cafe for elderly disadvantaged people and the creation of conference rooms.

The windfall - awarded by charitable trust Power To Change - is just one of four grants successfully gained by Arena manager Nigel Turner.

All four grants - including money from the National Lottery Community Fund, Severn Trent Water and Sport England - mean £109,495 has been raised during the crisis.

This is before £3,000 in public fundraising is taken into account.

North Notts Arena reopened on September 28 - having been closed since March while spending over £15,000 keeping the building running with no income.

Nigel says footfall has been ‘very slow - slower than expected’ - especially now Nottinghamshire people are no longer allowed to mix indoors with people from other households.

The venue has increased its prices by 25 per cent to support higher staff hours due to extra cleaning duties while taking fewer customers at the same time.

However Nigel, who took over the running of the arena in 2006 as registered charity North Notts Community Leisure Ltd, remains optimistic that the much-loved Arena will survive.

He said: “We have to find different ways of doing things - this is an interesting time and no-one has all the answers.

“But we’re doing what we can for the best and hopefully we’ll come out of it the other end.”

Speaking about plans to create a public IT suite and function rooms Nigel, 65, said: “There are a lot of elderly and disadvantaged people in Worksop who cannot get online.

“And why should people go to Nottingham or Mansfield to run training when we can provide space here?”

Nigel said he hopes grant funds will ensure the Arena’s survival and believes that diversification will support it long-term.

He added: “Hopefully people using the IT and meeting rooms will see what else we offer and want to play sport here as well.”

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