Talacre, Kentish Town. Camden Borough Council, North London.

This is a new facility providing affordable, accessible sporting opportunities for the local community, focusing on the needs of young people. Camden has been able to obtain a lottery grant of £3.4 million towards the project that had an overall cost of £5 million.

Like the Ferndale Centre we had committed money to this project
before we had finalised what the criteria for a successful application would be. We consider them both a 'one off' but something we are really proud to have contributed to.

We gave £150,000 to this project which was specifically donated for
the all weather pitch.

The leader of the Camden Council, Cllr Jane Roberts, officially opened Talacare Community Sports centre in the London Borough of Camden on Friday 21st March.

The centre opened to the public in November 2002 and has been a great success in the local community. There have been over 29,000 visits between December and March.

Cllr Roberts said has strong hopes that this is just the beginning of investment in these sort of projects in Camden, "The opening of this sports centre represents a landmark in the upgrading of provision for sport and physical activity in Camden"

Talacre not only provides an excellent focus for curricular and extra curricular sport for young people in local schools, but also offers opportunities for training and development in sports such as basketball, gymnastics, volleyball as well as the general recreational needs of the wider community.

Special guests at the opening included Arsenal ladies and England International football player Kirsty Pealling and basketball's London Towers' power forward Robert Youngblood. Guests were treated to a gymnastics display by Camden Gym Club who use the state of the art gymnastics hall for training and coaching.

Richard Wates was given the honour of cutting the ribbon on the day and reported back that the centre had become a focal point for the local community and had fulfilled all the criteria for a William Wates Memorial Trust project.