Funding for special Olympians

8:33am Tuesday 13th May 2008

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ATHLETES with their eyes on the London 2012 Special Olympics will be able to hone their skills after receiving lottery funding.

Special Olympics St Albans has been given £9,943 to take members with learning disabilities on a visit to the Isle of Wight where they will take part in a wide range of activities.

Around 35 members and a dozen carers will make the trip which starts on August 23.

During the week they will get a chance to try activities that are far removed from those normally available including raft building, abseiling and fencing.

The group is a branch of Special Olympics Great Britain which aims to develop sports training and competition for people with a learning disabilities.

It received the funding as part of Awards for All, a Lottery funded programme which helps community groups and voluntary organisations.

Awards for All spokeswoman Sara Betsworth said: "It has been another fantastic month for our projects - initiatives that are crucially important for all sorts of people and all sorts of groups have been able to get the funding they sorely needed to realise goals that will help the community prosper."