Youngsters in the area are now set to hang ten, thanks to the National Lottery.

BC Surf Club is on a crest of a wave, having received £1000 Community Chest grant from the Sports Council for Wales.

The club now plans to set up a new club and is targeting schoolchildren who fancy taking to the beach with their boards.

The surfing venture will link in with the Sports Council’s successful 5 x 60 programme, which aims to get more secondary school pupils doing extra-curricular sport than ever before. The grant will be ploughed into coach education and equipment to get the club firmly on its feet.

With sessions taking place on Coney and Southerndown beaches, the club is confident that local children can benefit from safe, structured surfing as well as lessons in water safety.

Since the inception of the Sports Council for Wales’ Community Chest scheme in 1999, communities across the length and breadth of Wales have been investing heavily in sports and physical activity projects.

As a result of the popularity and undoubted success of the scheme, the Sports Council for Wales is raising the level of grant. Organisations keen to develop sport & physical activity in Wales can now receive up to £1000 for a qualifying project over a 12 month period.

The scope of the scheme has also been widened. Grants have traditionally been awarded to sports clubs and sporting bodies. Now most organisations seeking to develop physical activity and sporting projects will be eligible for an award.

The Community Chest has recently been infiltrating additional areas of work such as the voluntary sector (e.g. Voluntary Youth Clubs, Women’s Institute) and the workplace, as well as continuing to support projects in the health and education arenas. So while funding the local football club might get the younger members of the community moving, backing a walking group will encourage more adults to get active.

Chair of the Sports Council for Wales, Philip Carling, said:

"Community Chest has been and continues to be a huge success and is very popular throughout Bridgend. The increase in funding and the greater scope of the scheme will increase its effectiveness.

"Panels based in each of the 22 local authorities in Wales hold the purse strings and have delegated authority to award grants to worthwhile projects. We want to hear of bright ideas and projects that will get more people in Bridgend more active, more often."

To remove the obstacles and to get your project going, call your Sports Council for Wales regional office:

South East Wales: 0845 045 0902

South West Wales: 0845 045 0906

North Wales: 0845 045 0908

Or visit www.sports-council-wales.org.uk