THOUSANDS of pounds in funding has been donated to communities in Worcester to encourage more activities in the city.

The donation of £10,000 comes from Leisure in the Community, the not-for-profit organisation that manages two leisure facilities in the Worcester area on behalf of Worcester City Council.

It will fund Worcester City Council’s Sport, Art and Play development team, which aims to support communities through a new project to further increase participation in sport, physical activity and play.

The main aims of the fund include putting in place low-cost, structured holiday play schemes and sport clubs across the city and helping to engage with 200 disabled young people through a summer disability sports programme.

The donation will also go towards employing two new co-ordinators at the facilities, one with responsibility for ensuring children and young people have access to indoor and outdoor play facilities and the other behind engaging with disabled people of all ages to promote sporting activities.

Councillor David Wilkinson, city council cabinet member for safer and stronger communities, said:

"The city council is delighted to receive this donation from Leisure in the Community. It is a real priority to ensure we encourage young people in Worcester to be active and keep fit, and this money will ensure we can engage even more of them in the future."