Breaking ground for sport in North Wales

5 April 2006

Work began yesterday (Tuesday, 4th April) on an important new sporting facility in Wrexham.  A water-based artificial turf pitch sited on NEWI’s Plas Coch Campus.  The new state-of-the-art pitch will provide a facility for students and the local community.

The new £1million pitch and spectator stand is being funded by the Sports Council of Wales and Sport@NEWI and will be the first of its kind in the region.  This pitch is predominately for the provision and growth of hockey in North Wales and is of international standard.  It will be suitable for National and International Championships as well as for training at all levels.
Sport@NEWI has already hosted the Welsh Badminton Championships, European Hockey Championships and looks forward to the Commonwealth Veteran Fencing Championship returning in August 2006. 

To celebrate the start of the work staff from NEWI and Sport@NEWI, along with representatives from the Sports Council of Wales, Welsh Hockey Union, Wrexham Hockey Club, NEWI Sports and Exercise Science students gathered to witness work on the site commence.  A short ceremony was held and Lord Barry Jones accompanied by his wife and NEWI Fellow Lady Janet attended with Lord Barry Jones “cutting the turf” to mark the occasion.

This new artificial pitch will add to the existing facilities and provide an excellent venue for national and international hockey matches.  Speaking at the event Professor Michael Scott, Principal of NEWI said, “Obtaining this funding for the pitch will make a huge difference to sport in North Wales. I believe it is important that such facilities are available in North Wales for high quality sporting events and we are proud to have such a facility being built at NEWI.  Many people in Wrexham and the surrounding area enjoy sport but miss out on live events because they are so often held in South Wales.  Hopefully this will mean more opportunities here in the North of the country.”

It is even hoped that the pitch will be used in the run up to the 2012 Olympics as a venue for training.  Combined with other sporting venues and facilities in the region there is potential for a training camp to be sited in the Wrexham area.