A DARLINGTON school and a cricket club are celebrating after being chosen to receive Olympic legacy funding.

Longfield Academy of Sport and Rockliffe Cricket Club, based in Hurworth, were each awarded thousands of pounds from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities fund to improve their facilities for future generations.

Longfield will receive £85,000 of National Lottery funding to contribute towards the cost of the new four court sports hall, which will also include a community gym, changing rooms, classroom and five Lawn Tennis Association standard floodlit tennis courts.

The school hopes that sports hall will not only benefit the pupils at Longfield, but also encourage the wider community to use the facilities and get into sport.

Headteacher Susan Johnson said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment, to enable the Longfield sports hall to be equipped to the highest standard. For the last ten years it has been the aim of the school to secure funding for this project.”

Rockliffe Park Cricket Club, who play in the Darlington and District league, have been established since 192 and will receive £49,640 in funding to help build a new pavilion.

The old pavilion is more than 40-years-old and the new pavilion will be used to encourage more local people, especially young people, to join the club and benefit from the new pavilion facilities.

Club chairman Richard Howell said: “Our existing facilities have served us well, however, they are no longer of a standard which we feel are conducive to attracting new players to our club, young or old.

“We are delighted to have secured this investment, which means we can have new premises to match the quality of the rest of our ground and the surrounding area.”