WITH your help, a �1.7m state-of-the-art leisure centre will be built in a Times Territory village.

The John Clements Sports and Community Centre will include an indoor multi-sports facility, which will feature a five-a-side football pitch, tennis courts and a bowls lawn, as well as function rooms and a youth club.

However, a major fundraising drive is needed to help make the facility, in Codicote, a reality.

So far around �30,000 has been collected from within the current club (the Codicote Sports and Social club), including a �1,000 grant from county councillor Richard Thake’s locality budget.

Project director Jim Park said: “We really need the backing of local people.

“When we have their backing we can then look to getting additional funding.

“I estimate around 70 per cent will be from big funders including the National Lottery,” he added.

“We are setting up fundraising events and I’ve heard someone is considering doing the London Marathon to raise cash.

“Any help will be welcome.”

Replacing the former building, which has become overused and outdated, the new all-in-one hub has been the subject of much research by a dedicated team which hopes to have it built and opened by the end of 2011.

It is being named in memory of a former PE teacher at Sherrardswood School. He died in 1976 when attempting to rescue children trapped in a hotel fire in the skiing resort of Sappada, northern Italy.

Incidentally, the field the sports centre is to sit on is also named after Mr Clements, who lived in Codicote.

Mr Park, a governor at the University of Hertfordshire, who spent 30 years running international businesses in ICI, said when the original sports and social club opened in the 1970s, around 80 to 90 people used it.

Now, more than 500 do.

The new centre will also include cricket nets, a frisbee area, aerobic and yoga facilities, a basketball/netball and volleyball court, fitness classes, as well as a licensed bar, a children’s activity area and a room to hire.

For more information about the plans, visit http://jc-codicote.org/