TALENTED young sportsmen and women from West Oxfordshire are being invited to apply for a share of a £1m grant fund to help young sporting stars realise their dreams.

Grants of up to £1,250 are being offered through the West Oxfordshire Sports Awards by the GLL Sport Foundation, the largest independent athlete support programme in the UK, which is funded by GLL, the social enterprise which runs West Oxfordshire’s leisure centres on behalf of the district council.

With 76 per cent of the grants going to athletes under the age of 21, the programme works in partnership with sports’ national governing bodies through the national charity SportsAid to support the next generation of sporting talent.

Last year, 28 West Oxford-shire athletes received funding, including 17-year-old Charlotte Bacon, from Shipton-under-Wychwood, who is a junior Great Britain eventing rider and has competed at international level.

She said: “I aspire to be a professional and compete in a future Olympics. Equestrian-ism is very expensive and the award is supporting me to develop and achieve my goals.”

Another local athlete who received support was Katie Nutt, from Standlake.

The 14-year-old is a member of the British junior water-skiing squad and competed at the 2014 European and African Championships, where she took sixth place as part of the under-14 team.

She said: “The award supported my rehabilitation and training costs that got me in the position to compete at the international champion-ships.”

Former Olympic, World, European and Commonwealth 400m hurdles champion Sally Gunnell, who is the patron of the GLL Sport Foundation, said: “From my own experience, starting out as a young athlete and progressing through my sport, I understand how important support from the foundation is to the realisation of sporting ambitions.

“Through the programme, we’re providing the next generation of athletes with tangible support to make a real difference to their sporting journeys.”

Since its launch in 2008, the programme has given grants totalling £3.8m to 6,500 athletes, participating in 95 sports. To be eligible for a grant, young sportsmen and women must live or be in education in an area where GLL operates.

  • To apply and for more details about the scheme, see gllsportfoundation.org Applications for 2015 awards must be submitted by Friday, February 20.