Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Community
We are delighted to confirm that we have made the shortlist for the 'Going Green Award' at the Community Sport and Recreation Awards 2023, a nationally-recognised awards programme organised by the Sport and Recreation Alliance.
We have been nominated for our work on 'going green' during the past year and we are one of the organisations on a three-strong shortlist for the 'Going Green Award'.
The work we have undertaken which has led to our nomination includes:
- our 5-year Ecological Plan for the site which has the following designations: SSSI, SAC, AONB and UNESCO Biosphere
- entering a Higher Level Stewardship agreement with Natural England which will involve scrub clearance, creation of sand scrapes and dune slacks to enhance habitat for ground-nesting birds and reptiles
- reducing emissions by moving to naturalised fairway bunkers which makes them more sustainable by reducing the need for revetment turf to be transported in. This is in addition to setting up our own turf nursery in a neighbouring field which will also reduce our carbon footprint
- being a chosen venue by the R&A for their research project on ecological management due to our exemplary management of the site (the research project looked at the positive impact golf clubs have on their surrounding environment)
- other steps taken to reduce emissions (solar panels on-site and more to follow, use of hybrid mowers with the plan to go fully-electric in the future, recycling, our GEO certification, electric car charging points installed last year)
- steps taken to be more precise with our irrigation water (use of POGO moisture sensors which makes us very efficient with water usage)
The winner will be crowned at an awards ceremony on Friday 17th March at Twickenham Stadium, the home of English Rugby. The awards will be presented by the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s President, HRH The Earl of Wessex, and the winners will also each receive £1000.
On being named a finalist, our General Manager, Jon Sutherland said: "we are delighted to have been nominated for the Going Green Award, which shows that we have been recognised for our efforts in how we manage our beautiful site and specifically the various ecological designations which it holds. We are always conscious of doing the best for the biodiversity on our site and are focused on how we can have a positive impact on the local and wider environment too".
The Sport and Recreation Alliance’s Community Sport and Recreation Awards have been running for over 25 years, and are an annual celebration of grassroots clubs, organisations and individuals.
The awards celebrate the full breadth of sport and recreation, with previous winners including: Panathlon Challenge, Brighton Table Tennis Club, Nottingham Croquet Club, Newcastle United Foundation, and Billingham Boxing Academy.
Find out more on the Sport and Recreation Alliance’s website, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn, and get involved using #CSRA2023 on Twitter.