LETTER: Village sports need cash, too

From Cllr Brian Hoare

Sir: Your leading article ("Tracey and Hugo go sporty", 10 August) posed the queston as to who will use the new Regional Athletics facility to be built at Eton. You could begin by asking, among others, the South of England Athletic Association, the National Coaching Foundation, Berkshire County Amateur Athletic Association, the British Athletic Federation, Buckinghamshire Athletic Association, the Central Council of Physical Recreation, Berkshire Schools Athletics Association, the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead, Slough Borough Council, Cerebral Palsy Sport, the Spastics Society and Mencap. All of these actually support the proposal and use of its facilities.

In addition to regional and community use, the Centre will also be the home base for the Windsor, Slough and Eton Athletic club, which is currently represented by seven men and women at the World Athletics Championships in Gothenberg.

No need to ask Tracey or Hugo - ask Mark, Marcia and Melanie, when they return from representing Great Britain, what they think of a new facility that can only boost future British athletics, a sport where ethnic origin, background, privilege, social status and gender are irrelevancies.

Yours faithfully,

Brian Hoare

Eton, Berkshire