Snowsport England has announced that it is to receive £985,000 of Government and National Lottery funding to get more people skiing and snowboarding in high quality environments.

Manchester’s Chill Factore is one of the venues set to benefit from the funding. In the past year, more than 1,500 schools from across the North West have taken part in activities at Manchester’s indoor real snow centre, with many building snowsports tuition into their school programmes. Chill Factore also trains some of the country’s most promising young talent.

Chill Factore – Manchester’s indoor real snow centre - opened in November 2007 and is situated just off junction 10 of the M60. At 180 metres long, Chill Factore boasts the UK’s longest indoor real snow slope and runs a range of initiatives to improve accessibility to skiing and snowboarding for young people.

Chill Factore offers a range of tuition – from lessons for complete beginners, right up to expert race training for the country’s most promising young talent. Chill Factore is a centre of excellence for assessing GCSE and A Level Physical Education and the venue is working with local authorities and educational establishments to support the delivery of the new Sport and Active Leisure Diploma.

The venue is also working hard to make snowsports more accessible, for example by creating links with local authorities and school sports partnerships to provide funding for schools to take part in snowsports and through its support for the Manchester Healthy Schools programme.

Youth and community groups are also given access to snowsports through partnerships with, for example, Manchester City Football Club’s ‘City in the Community’ scheme and the Manchester United Foundation bringing groups of children regularly during the school holidays.

Chill Factore also has a clear focus on promoting skiing and snowboarding within universities, with twelve institutions attending on a regular basis. Competitions and training are organised to encourage students to develop their skills.

Stephen Evans, Chief Executive at Chill Factore, said: “We are delighted to have been named as a priority club for growing participation in snowsports. With the longest indoor real snow slope in the country, venues such as ours are a fantastic way for youngsters to both try out snowsports for first time and to continue to develop their skills. Our expert instructors and coaches are working hard to develop raw talent and this funding will enable us to give even more young skiers a shot at major international achievement.

“We are already seeing some fantastic skiers and snowboarders emerging from our slopes through our Race Club. Joanna Ryding and Bradley Morgan look particularly promising and we are doing all we can to support their dream of representing Great Britain at Olympic level in 2014.”

www.chillfactore.com

---