MORE women will be encouraged to take up sailing according to a Bolton group celebrating receiving a £50,000 grant from Sport England.

Bolton Sailing Club will use the cash to improve its disabled facilities and refurbish the women’s changing rooms.

The club, which is nearly 50 years old, has a lot of facilities which are quite basic because of their age and has vowed to use the funding to improve them.

Warren Price, the club’s commodore, said: “We are absolutely delighted. It means a lot for the future of the club, particularly helping attract more women into the sport and improving facilities for the disability groups who use the building.

“A lot of work went into preparing the grant application and I want to thank everyone on the team who put so much effort into preparing the plans.”

The club has made ambitious plans to invest in their facilities, improving insulation and refurbishing the ladies’ changing rooms which currently have no natural light and are cramped.

The size of the ladies area will be increased by 20 per cent, the doorway will be adapted for wheelchair access and natural light introduced by the installation of “light pipes”.

The group’s application for the cash from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities fund was boosted by endorsements from schools who work with the club.

Local children in school or youth groups are currently encouraged to take up sailing through the Royal Yachting Associations’s OnBoard programme and Sailability, which opens the sport up for people with disabilities.

Sport England’s Inspired Facilities programme, which aims to deliver a London 2012 legacy of increased mass participation in sport, has invested £50 million in up to 1000 community sports projects between 2011 and 2014.

Bolton Sailing Club is participating in RYA’s Push The Boat Out Day on May 17 — and it will be open to new members wishing to take part in sailing or powerboating.

Anyone interested in joining the club can visit them on Friday evenings or Sunday afternoons each week or visit their website sail.org.uk