Imberhorne School | Sports Hall Fundraising

Imberhorne School provides great education for around 1,700 pupils, but currently, there is very little indoor space for sport and other activities such as music, drama and dance.

Imberhorne is the only school in the whole of West Sussex which does not have a Sports Hall, despite it being classified by Ofsted as an Outstanding’ School.

We are raising funds to enable a state of the art facility to be built. Such a facility will also benefit the wider community as it will promote sport and performing arts for everyone - we plan that it will be available for all to use.

In January Mid Sussex District Council granted planning permission for an indoor sports hall with changing facilities, purpose-built studio for drama, dance and performing arts, plus two classrooms for PE theory and general use on the Imberhorne Lane site. The building will be located to the left of and behind the Sixth Form bungalow at the back of the school near the athletics training facility.

The building cost is estimated at £2m which was some way beyond the £1.3m promised by WSCC with £200,000 from the school but County Councillors have now agreed to provide an additional £0.5m in order to include two classrooms and the proposed studio within the project.

Work began on the site in July 2012 and the expected completion date is July 2013. The progress is now highly visible and we would like to thank everyone who has supported our fund-raising so far. However, there is still work to be done to fulfil our commitment of £200,000 to the project. Please see the rest of this page to find out how you can help and support us, perhaps by being involved on the committee, coming along to an event or by making a donation?

Sports Hall Fundraising Committee

		We are creating a brick path that will lead up to the sports hall main entrance and we offered students (past and present), parents, staff, governors and friends of the school the opportunity to donate their very own paving brick, professionally engraved, which will serve as a permanent legacy of their contribution to the Sports Hall.
		Diamond Jubilee ‘Imberthon’ 1st June 2012 The 1st of June 2012 will stay in the memories of everyone at Imberhorne for a very long time. It was a day where the whole school came together to raise money by challenging themselves to either a 7 mile walk or 26 mile team marathon and to celebrate the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee. Students from Year 7 through to Year 10 chose whether they would like to take part in a sponsored 10k walk or 26 mile marathon. Approximately 800 students took to the Worth Way for a countryside walk that stretched for over 7 miles – a distance that many students said they had never walked before! The remaining 400 students put themselves into teams to share the 26 mile marathon. As the students passed an array of different batons between them Union Jacks – bananas – drum sticks – Olympic torch – inflatable guitars and fairy wands to name a few, their team spirit was on show for all the staff to witness. The whole day was a huge success, enjoyed by all (even those with blisters!) and, as many staff were overheard to say, “this really was Imberhorne at its best” Work begins on 23rd July for the £2 million project which will provide much needed sporting facilities for our deserving students and East Grinstead. Click on the photos to see them at full size.
		Thank you to everyone who supported the Sports Hall Fundraising by choosing us for your ‘green charity coin’ destination during April at the Waitrose store in East Grinstead. We were delighted to be presented with a cheque for £500 on 13th June. Click on the photo to see it at full size.
		When the plans for the Community Sports Hall were finalised Imberhorne approached the Gatwick Airport Community Trust to ask for help in funding. This charitable organisation supports deserving projects particularly in areas where people are directly affected by operations at Gatwick Airport. As their priority categories include the development of young people, sporting facilities, community facilities and art projects (drama, dance) we felt that our Community Sports Hall with performing arts area would fit their criteria. They will only award funds if there is evidence that determined efforts have been made to fundraise and we could certainly show that. We have received a cheque for £1000 and would like to express our thanks for this very generous donation which will be used for the purchase of the blackout curtains to enable joint dance and drama use of the performance space.
		Following on from the achievement of the Three Peaks climbers, the Imberhorne P.E department ran in relay from Hastings Pier to Bognor Regis pier on 14th July to raise money for the sports hall. Between them they ran a total of 107 km (66 miles)! That's like running from Imberhorne Lane to Portsmouth! If you would like to congratulate them by sponsoring them you can do this through Virgin Money Giving here
		You can still donate to the successful Three Peaks effort here.



	Please email any fundraising suggestions or offers of help to the Sports Hall Fundraising Committee:

	sportshall@imberhorne.co.uk



	28th February 2012 Press Release: Planning Permission for New Sports Hall
	27th May 2011 Fundraising letter by Mr Ford



	Click on the image for a full-sized version. For Booking Form click here
	Can you help? Would you like to make a donation, however small?

	Sports Hall Mandate Direct Debit Form (May 2011)

Comments? E-mail us: webteam@imberhorne.co.uk