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Video: Hope Powell opens
new sports pavilion

by Adam Williams

Kent University’s new sports
pavilion has been officially opened by England Women’s football
coach Hope Powell.

The striking facility, based on the
Canterbury campus, includes changing rooms, viewing balconies
overlooking the adjacent grass and artificial pitches, as well as a
first floor social area and cafe. It will be used by both
university sports teams and the local community. The £2.7 million
project was made possible thanks to generous support from the
Football Foundation.

Powell, 42, whose national side
finished runners-up at last month’s European Championships in
Helsinki, held a question and answer session with university and
school footballers, before officially declaring the new building
open.

She said: “When I arrived here, I
was really impressed by the scale of it and I have to say they’ve
done a fantastic job.

“The work the Football Foundation
does in helping produce more high-quality grassroots facilities is
tremendous. With our weather, with our climate, if you haven’t got
nice facilities it’s not very inviting and I think they’ve done
really well here with both the pavilion and the pitches.

“It’s a really nice environment
that’s conducive to practice and play for young kids and parents
can also come down and watch in comfort.”

University director of sport,
physical activity and recreation, Graham Holmes helped take the
project from artist’s impression to reality.

He said: “There’s a huge number of
people to thank for making this building finally come together and
it’s great to finally see it open. It’s going to be a place for not
just the university to enjoy, but for the whole community.”