Matt Turmaine MP has urged grassroots clubs to apply for Cash4Clubs funding, following a visit to Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care.

The facility, which supports people across Buckinghamshire and Hertfordshire affected by progressive life-limiting illnesses, received a share of Flutter’s £500,000 Cash4Clubs scheme earlier this year.

The funding has enabled Rennie Grove Peace , who support 4,500 people a year to expand its fitness and therapeutic yoga provision within its Living Well Clinics in Watford and St Albans.

The classes, led by a qualified instructor, are provided free of charge and help service users improve their mobility, strength, balance and emotional wellbeing.

The grant also supported coaching costs and marketing, ensuring more patients are aware of and able to access the service.

Matt Turmaine MP said:

"I can’t praise the hospice and the work they do in Watford and elsewhere highly enough. On my tour of the calm, light and airy facilities, I saw where and upon what Flutters’ generous £2,000 donation was used to improve quality of life.  I’m all in favour of money coming Watford’s way and I’d encourage local groups to apply for the next round of funding and to get a share of the £500,000 Cash4Clubs on offer from next month"

Tom O’Connor, Chief Executive at Rennie Grove Peace Hospice Care, said:

“It was wonderful to host Matt Turmaine MP and Flutter UK & Ireland to showcase the difference their Cash4Clubs grant has made.

“Exercise and movement can make a real difference to people living with a serious illness, helping them stay active, manage symptoms and maintain their independence for longer. It’s a great example of how hospice care means helping people live well with illness, not just supporting them at the end of life.

“We were delighted to share more with Matt Turmaine MP about the breadth of our work. Too often, people think hospice care begins in the final days or weeks of life, but we support patients and families from diagnosis onwards, through every stage of illness and bereavement.

"Visits like this are invaluable because they demonstrate the impact hospice care has on local communities, and why adequate government funding is so vital, to ensure everyone who needs hospice care can access it when they need to"

Cash4Clubs provides funding to 250 sports clubs and community organisations across the UK and Ireland annually and, since its launch in 2008, has donated nearly £7 million to thousands of grassroots organisations.

The unrestricted funding supports community organisations using sport and physical activity to improve wellbeing, and remove barriers to participation. The transformative scheme is set to reopen for applications from clubs and organisations keeping adults engaged with sport next month (September).

Since 2008, Flutter UK & Ireland has invested nearly £7 million into grassroots sport through its brands, including Betfair, Paddy Power, Sky Betting & Gaming, PokerStars and tombola.

Last year, more than 32,000 adults benefited from the scheme, with Sported reporting that 86% of clubs saw membership growth or increased participation as a direct result of funding.

Other organisations across the South of England to have received vital grants through the Flutter Cash4Clubs initiative include Long Furlong Riding for the Disabled, Sussex Spitfires and Headway Portsmouth, to name just a few.

Kevin Harrington, Chief Executive of Flutter UKI, said:

"Cash4Clubs is a cornerstone of our commitment to reach the lives of 10 million people in the communities where we operate by 2030."

"Community organisations are the bedrock of sport and wellbeing across the UK and Ireland. Many operate on shoestring budgets, yet they deliver extraordinary impact for the people they support. Unfortunately, without support from programmes such as Cash4Clubs, many of these vital community institutions simply won't survive.

"We're proud to play our part."

Applications for the next round of £500,000 Cash4Clubs funding will open later this year at cash4clubs.org.

The scheme recently won Best Grassroots Initiative at the Women's Football Awards, recognising its impact on community sport and wellbeing across the UK and Ireland.