One of the last grants from Engage West Cornwall before it merged with the Neighbourhood Renewal Funding Group for Penwith and Kerrier - to form the West Cornwall Funding Group - was a significant sum to help with renovation and expansion of Falmouth Cricket Club.

Nearly £150,000 of Single Regeneration Fund (SRB) money has been given to the project to provide enhanced facilities and services at the club, both now and in the future.  This is being achieved by adding an extension to the clubhouse and partly refurbishing the existing structure.

In addition, and just as importantly, the project has appointed a Youth Development Officer, Gary Rollins, to go out into the community and co-ordinate schemes to engage young people - initially through partnership working with local schools and groups.

The improved clubhouse, giving Falmouth some of the best facilities in Cornwall, will be finished in the next few weeks.  It will feature prestigious changing rooms, a larger bar area suitable for functions and meetings, office space and a top-of-the-range scoreboard, as well as better provision and access for those with disabilities.

But it is out in the community that the effects of the funding are really being felt now.  Gary is working with schools and clubs to enthuse youngsters, from 6 to 17, particularly in the Penwerris area of Falmouth.  In schools such as Beacon Junior, Marlborough and King Charles he is introducing youngsters from year three upwards to multi-sports activities.  And he has been helping the youth cricket section at FCC to grow into one of the largest youth schemes in the county.  Last summer there were some outstanding successes for the under 12 and under 15 groups in particular.

Above all, Gary is actively working with community leaders to bring more and more young people off the streets or out of their homes and into organised sport.  That largely involves listening to what the young people (and their parents) really want and arranging the necessary kit and equipment.

"Eventually I would love to have the local community, through adult volunteers, running all the sporting activities by itself," says Gary.  "In other words, my ultimate aim is to make myself redundant!"

Gary himself is a top-notch cricketer, as his successes for Falmouth and Cornwall last summer showed.  As such he is an excellent role model for many youngsters.  But it is his enthusiasm, new ideas and hard work that really shine through.

He hopes to turn the cricket club into an accredited training centre so that the pursuit of sporting excellence and even the development of elite athletes can continue and prosper.  He would also love to see the new facilities at the club used extensively by the local community - for evening parties, daytime functions and as a centre for whatever activities the young people want.

Summing up the effects of the project, Anne Nicholls of Engage says:  "The FCC developments meet some of the most important strategic objectives of our SRB-funded programmes.  They enhance the employment prospects, education and skills of local people through positive intervention, they address social exclusion and they offer new opportunities for the disadvantaged.  We are delighted to see this work going so well."

Or as Gary puts it himself:  "Now if a young person says, 'There's nothing to do round here,' we'll just reply, 'Well what do you want to do?' . and then we'll organise it."

For more information on the West Cornwall Funding Group and the funding available, contact Anne Nicholls, Engage Co-ordinator, or James Hardy, Neighbourhood Renewal Funding Officer, at Cowlin's Mill, Penhallick, Carn Brea, Redruth, TR15 3YR, call 01209 614019, email engage@kerrier.gov.uk or visit www.engagewestcornwall.co.uk.