Ex-England star gets behind campaign

1:00pm Saturday 3rd November 2007

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Former England footballer and star of Strictly Come Dancing, John Barnes, took time out from practising his quick step last week to join Feltham and Heston MP Alan Keen at a Westminster event to support the Subs for Clubs campaign to help sports clubs in Hounslow.

The campaign aims to provide more tax relief for sports clubs that offer sporting activities for children.

The Centre for Cultural Policy Research (CCPR), a national body of representatives from sport and recreation, is calling on the Government to enhance the benefits of the Community Amateur Sports Club scheme (CASC), which more than 4,450 clubs have already signed up to.

Clubs offering activities popular among children, such as swimming, gymnastics and netball, have been the slowest to join the scheme which is why CCPR believes the introduction of Gift Aid on junior subscriptions would be of significant benefit to all sports clubs.

Mr Keen is vice-president of the Hounslow Sports Forum, which recently wrote to all sports clubs in the borough encouraging them to sign up to the CASC scheme. He said: "Sport and recreation clubs are a vital part of our social fabric. There are dozens of clubs in Hounslow that do a fantastic job providing sports facilities for children. Many of them are run by volunteers who put in a lot of time and effort to give our kids the chance to take part in sports.

"They deserve more support, and providing tax relief on junior subscriptions is a great way of giving them that. I am asking the Government to expand the Gift Aid scheme to help children's sports. It can make all the difference in boosting sports participation by children in the run up to the 2012 Games."

Mr Barnes, said: "Sport should always be high up the political agenda. I know from my experience as a player, as a coach and as an ambassador for Access Sport, the power that sport has to unite communities, to build confidence, to teach new skills and to help people get fit and healthy."