WICE ( Whitchapel and Inglewhite Community Enterprises ) was set up to create a year-round sports facility on the land beside the village hall that has been given to the school and the community.

Planning permission has recently been obtained for the construction of a Multi Use Games Area (MUGA) and its associated landscaping.

The meeting was arranged so that anyone interested in the project could view the latest plans, and be informed about what is happening.

Tea and home made cakes were freely available to all who came, several copies of the plans were laid out, and as well as informal discussion there were some brief talks, introduced by the WICE chairperson Xav Bowers.

Louise Jones, the school head, briefly outlined the history of the project.   The school must have good sports facilities if it is to survive, but takes the view that such facilities are best shared with the rest of the community: the existing   shared use of the village hall is a good example of how a small community can extract the best value from an expensive facility.

The gift of the land made everything possible, and WICE was set up to raise money and make things happen.   We now have planning permission to go ahead, and the next hurdle is to find the money to proceed: estimates are around £300,000.

It turns out that there is money available from the Lancashire Youth Capital Fund, and we have been invited to make a bid for funding. This is a tremendous opportunity, and we are putting together a bid.   You can help by writing a brief letter supporting the project. We particularly want to hear from young people aged 13 to 19, or from their parents with their own words saying why a sports facility in the village is necessary.

If this bid fails there are many other sources of possible funding.   Applications are hard work, involve complicated forms and awkward letter-writing, but we are slowly learning how to do it.

We then heard from Paul White, a professional Tennis Coach who works with young people in our area.   He is very keen to have proper tennis courts for his use, and very keen to encourage everyone to join in and play.

John Mark told us about the plans for the Football Club.   He has recently taken over as Coach and Organiser, and has huge enthusiasm for developing the club and the skills of the young players.   An all-weather pitch would transform football during the winter months.

Nick Cutler gave a brief ‘plug’ for the village website www.wice.org.uk   This has the potential to be of use to the community; there is plenty of space for articles, pictures, sale & wanted ads, local organisation and businesses, events: anything that anyone wants to say publicly.   It is a bit of a chicken-an-egg:   if people make use of it and submit useful material it will grow into an important resource, if people don’t use it then it will fade away.

One example of the fun you can have with the website was the recent WICE logo competition.   We invited children to create a ‘logo’, placed copies on the website, and asked everyone to send emails with their votes for the best.

The winners were announced at the meeting, and given their prizes of boxes of chocolates:

First prize: Hannah Stirrup

Runners up: Jessica Wight, William Stirrup, Imogen Hall

The website will be running another picture competition over the Christmas Holiday and everyone, adults and children, is invited to enter.

For further details of the MUGA, fundraising, village activities, competitions etc please see: www.wice.org.uk