Latest news with #MattSkelhon
BBC News
14 hours ago
- Sport
- BBC News
Peterborough Paralympic medallist recognised with blue plaque
A blue plaque is being unveiled for the Paralympic shooting gold medallist Matt will be on display at Whittlesey Rifle Club in the Cambridgeshire town, where Skelhon who is from Peterborough, won the gold medal in the SH1 10m prone air rifle event at the Beijing Olympics in plaque will be unveiled at 12:30 BST on Sunday, during the Whittlesey Big Bash annual summer event, where he is a guest of honour. A spokesperson for the club said: "Matt Skelhon is taking a break from training to be there and meet the public."The Whittlesey Big Bash 2025 is well worth visiting with 300 classic vehicles, a family disco and the chance to try other sports like archery, tennis and fishing, all for free."The rifle club is based at Manor Leisure Centre, which is due to be redeveloped with a new facility for the Whittlesey Big Bash begins on Sunday at 11:00 at the leisure centre. Follow East of England news on X, Instagram and Facebook: BBC Beds, Herts & Bucks, BBC Cambridgeshire, BBC Essex, BBC Norfolk, BBC Northamptonshire or BBC Suffolk.
BBC News
08-05-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
Whittlesey Rifle Club wants new home to be centre for excellence
Rifle club welcomes prospect of new leisure centre The club previously feared it could be left without a base after Fenland District Council announced parts of the centre would be demolished. It hoped to get an "Olympic standard" 10m air rifle range as well as further funding for target retrieval and better shooting systems for people with impaired vision. Whittlesey Rifle Club said its new building, which would be built to the side of a redeveloped Manor Leisure Centre in the Cambridgeshire town, could be even better than the last. A rifle club hopes multi-million-pound leisure centre improvements could help it become a "centre for excellence". The club, which is home to Paralympic shooting gold medallist Matt Skelhon, welcomed the redevelopment which comes as a wider £23m Fenland project to enhance four of the district's leisure centres. Alan Bessant, from the rifle club, said when the council looked to replace the leisure centre the club noticed "there was a cost to knock down our building, but nothing included to rebuild it". "We have always been what we like to call 'the best kept secret in the town', but it made us much more pro-active telling people about the club," he added. After advertising the club, he said councillors swung behind it and made the unanimous vote "to not only to provide us with a new building but a better building as part of the new development". He said the club was inclusive and had a "generational interest". "I think people see the benefit to youth... [aged] from three to 103, even if people become less able-bodied, they can still come and do the sport and join the social environment," he said. They estimated it could be about three years before they moved to the new site. "We are ploughing on here and making this building the best it can be and then looking forward to when that [new] building is ready," Mr Bessant said. The club hoped to be accessible for all people and wanted to encourage Paralympians who needed places to train to visit Whittlesey. Investment needed for the new systems, like shooting and target retrieval, were estimated to cost about £60,000.
