Southern Culture
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My name is Bond
HMS Westminster at Portsmouth Naval Base was a location for James Bond’s antics in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997)
Sport England Chair Resigns
Sport England Chair resigns
The Chair of Sport England, Derek Mapp has resigned over plans for shifting the role and responsibilities of the organisation.
On Wednesday 28 November Culture Secretary James Purnell had outlined plans for Sport England to focus on increasing sports participation, while responsibility for getting 2m more people active by 2012 would be led by the Department of Health. This would, he said, free up more money for sports' governing bodies to develop a world-class community sports legacy. James Purnell had already told Mapp in a meeting on Nov 14 that the organisation, which distributes £238 million a year to grassroots sport projects, would have to re-focus on community sports, a directive backed up in a letter on Nov 23.
Sport England is now producing a strategy for 2008 - 11 and will work with a group put together by DCMS on this, which will include Richard Lewis, Rugby League Chairman, Youth Sport Trust Chief Executive Steve Grainger, together with Sport England’s Deputy Chair, Ged Roddy. The Lewis review is due to be concluded next March just before the next three-year spending round for Sport England is announced in April. An interim chairman will be appointed in the next few weeks.
A Sport England press release is available to view at
http://www.sportengland.org/news/press_releases/