Young sport stars get financial support

FOUR young sport stars from Warrington have been awarded bursaries by Active Cheshire to help them reach the top.
Joe Cummins, 15 plays basketball for Cheshire Wire and has made his mark both locally and nationally.
Kelly Chadwick, also 15, runs for Sale Harriers and last year was ranked number one in the country for her age.
Harriet Knowles-Jones, 16, is a member of Warrington Athletic Club – regularly ranked in the top three in the UK for her age – and her swimmer sister Emily, 18, has been cited as having ‘strong potential’ to compete in Rio 2016.
“BiG Rising Stars” is a joint initiative between Active Cheshire and BiG Storage and was launched in 2013 to help young athletes pay for training, kit or travel to competitions through the awarding of personal bursaries.
Andrew Donaldson, Chairman of BiG Storage, said: “Since we launched the programme last year with Alex Staniforth, we have been overwhelmed by the large number of applications from sporting young people and we are delighted to announce our first wave of support for Cheshire and Warrington youngsters.”
The second wave of recipients will be announced in December, when the fund will be opened up again for applications.
The final wave of recipients will be announced in February and a total of £3,500 will be invested into young athletes.
Anne Boyd, CEO of Active Cheshire, added: “There is a wealth of sporting talent amongst the young people of Cheshire and Warrington and we are proud to help support them through this initiative.”