FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
London Marathon Charitable Trust launches #LMCT40 campaign
to celebrate 40th anniversary
The London Marathon Charitable Trust (The Trust) today [Thursday 11 March]
launches its #LMCT40 campaign - a year of celebrations and initiatives to
mark the 40th anniversary of the charity and four decades of inspiring
activity.
The Trust was created by London Marathon co-founders John Disley and Chris
Brasher on 13 March 1981 to distribute the surplus generated by the event
to fund sport and recreation projects in London. The very first London
Marathon was held on Sunday 29 March 1981 and later that year the first
seven grants from The Trust were awarded, including £1,500 to the Ferndale
Sports Centre in Brixton.
Forty years on, The Trust has expanded its remit to fund projects across
the UK and London Marathon Events (LME) now delivers a number of world
class mass participation events in running, cycling and swimming every year
in addition to the London Marathon. The surplus generated by LME, which is
passed to The Trust through corporate Gift Aid, means that a total of more
than £93 million has now been awarded to over 1,470 projects across the UK,
enabling people of all ages and abilities to become and remain physically
active and challenging inequality of access to physical activity.
Since 1981, The Trust has:
- Funded more than 55 different types of sports and activities
- Awarded funding to every one of the 32 London boroughs
- Awarded more than £11.4million to 19 strategic partners since 2018 to
Inspire Activity across the UK
- Awarded more than £7million to projects which have helped preserve the
Olympic Legacy such as the London Marathon Community Track and Lee Valley
Velo Park, both in the Olympic Park
- Awarded £3.8million to more than 200 play projects - play is often the
first step into physical activity for many children, and The Trust is one
of the few organisations to fund play facilities
- Provided funding that has protected 46 playing fields (equal to 335
hectares) in perpetuity across the UK
Catherine Anderson, the incoming Executive Director of The Trust, said:
"This is a historic year for The Trust in which we are celebrating the work
we have done over four decades and also looking ahead to a bright future
where inspiring activity for all has never been more important. Coronavirus
has shown us all how vital it is to live healthy, active lives, but it has
also highlighted the unacceptable inequalities that exist when it comes to
access to sport and activity.
"Our vision is a society in which everyone is physically active, which is
so vital for health and wellbeing, and we will be focusing on this with our
#LMCT40 campaign throughout the coming year."
As part of the #LMCT40 campaign launch, The Trust announced that it will be
offering organisations that have received funding from The Trust over the
past 40 years the chance to apply for one of 40 special Anniversary Places
in this year's Virgin Money London Marathon on Sunday 3 October, which is
set to be the biggest marathon ever staged with 50,000 participants in the
traditional mass participation event and another 50,000 in the virtual
event.
As part of the application process for The Trust's Anniversary Places,
organisations must demonstrate how the place in the world's greatest
marathon will be used to inspire activity.
Sir Rodney Walker, Chairman of The Trust, said: "The London Marathon is an
extraordinary force for good and The Trust is thrilled to enable 40 of our
grantees to be a part of the world's greatest marathon.
"The London Marathon Charitable Trust and London Marathon Events work
towards our shared vision of inspiring activity. Our grantee organisations
are fundamental in helping us in achieving this mission, through their work
in using the power of sport and physical activity to create happier and
healthier communities. We believe this wonderful opportunity will inspire
more extraordinary work from our grantees."
Find out more and apply for one of The Trust's Anniversary Places in the
Virgin Money London Marathon, or read full details of the areas and
projects that have received funding from The Trust over the past 40 years
on The London Marathon Charitable Trust website.
For more information, follow The Trust on Twitter @LMCT
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