National Grid donates £20,000 to Bere Alston watersports club

The Weir Quay Community Watersports Hub Club in Bere Alston, near Plymouth, has started building a new boatshed to store equipment following a grant from National Grid’s Community Grant Programme. The £20,000 grant – the maximum available under the scheme – will go towards the club’s new dinghy and gig park site and a boatshed.

The Community Grant Programme is National Grid’s fund designed for community organisations and charities in areas where work is impacting on local people. National Grid engineers, and their contractor Babcock Networks, started work on an essential project to refurbish the overhead line running between Landulph and Exeter in April 2017. The Community Watersports Hub Club is based in Weir Quay, near the southernmost point of the line, and is adjacent to a pylon undergoing refurbishment. National Grid is carrying out a £50 million refurbishment of pylons in Devon and part of Cornwall to keep power flowing in the South West and beyond for decades to come. The line of pylons, running between substations in Exeter and Landulph, was built in the 1960s.

Graham Reed, Company Secretary for the Hub Club, said: “The funds granted will make a real difference in allowing both residents and visitors to enjoy the wealth of water sports Weir Quay has to offer, and we’re hugely grateful to National Grid for their positive decision. We can’t wait for the grand unveiling and would welcome some National Grid representation on site when we’re ready to crack open the bubbly.”