OXFORD will get its first beach volleyball courts after a cash injection to buy the right sort of sand.

The Oxford Volleyball Club has been given £57,890 of National Lottery funding.

The Chipping Norton Lido has also been granted £60,240 to retile both of its pools.

Funding came from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities funding, which is for refurbishing tired facilities or converting existing buildings into venues for less well-known sports like beach volleyball.

The city’s first beach volleyball courts are set to be built next year.

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The club currently provides indoor volleyball training to almost 100 players aged between eight and 60 at Headington School and Oxford High School. Players currently have to travel 85 miles to train at the nearest outdoor facilities in Portsmouth.

The volleyball club needs 400 tonnes of the right sort of sand for the courts, which will cost about £17,000, because of strict regulations from the governing body, Volleyball England.

Sand used must not be too fine to avoid sticking together or too dry and hard as it can become too compact.

Builder’s sand is not acceptable as its coarseness could cause injuries.

Maïté Braud, the chairwoman of the club’s beach volleyball court committee, said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment, which means we can now bring beach volleyball to Oxford.

“This project, which will take a small area of council-owned land and turn it into a beach volleyball facility, promises to make beach volleyball accessible to the Oxfordshire community. We hope to attract new players to this exciting sport, fulfilling the potential of the London 2012 Olympic legacy.”

At the Chipping Norton Lido the money will pay for the adult and toddler pools to be completely resurfaced.

Trustee Claire Jarvis said: “They are contributing to the next part of our refurbishment and modernisation programme.

“The lido was first built 40 years ago and it hasn’t been resurfaced since then. It’s quite a big job.

“We are in the process of going out to tender and taking advice from other lidos and manufacturers about what surfacing to use.”

The lido needs thousands of pounds each year to maintain the pool and receives no public funding other than a £2,000 grant from the town council Ms Jarvis said: “We’re delighted we got the money. This is the largest single grant we have ever received. It’s quite a testament to our track record and organisation. It’s a nice vote of confidence.”

Groups can apply for the Inspired Facilities fund, which is awarded twice a year, at any time throughout the year.

Community and voluntary organisations are able to bid for grants of between £20,000 and £75,000, and other organisations such as councils and schools can apply for grants of up to £150,000.

Visit sportengland.org/ inspiredfacilities

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