Alexandra Palace Announces £150,000 Donation from Matchroom Foundation to Fund Young People's Park Program

Alexandra Park and Palace Charitable Trust (APPCT) is delighted to announce that The Matchroom Sport Charitable Foundation have pledged £150,000 to fund its new Young People’s Park Programme. The activity will be delivered by the charity’s Creative Learning team for the next three years.

The funding will help develop Alexandra Park as a place of learning through a new outdoor activity programme and additional infrastructure like bird feeders, shelters and wayfinding to encourage children and young people to discover what the great outdoors has to offer. In addition to ecology and conservation, the programme will also include creative outputs utilising the park for performance, sculpture and more.

The programme is set to have a transformative effect on the lives of thousands of young people in Haringey, with more and more research confirming that time spent outdoors is critical for physical and mental wellbeing, and can help young people adopt healthy lifestyle habits for life.

Alexandra Palace and Matchroom Sport have an extraordinary partnership which sees the venue host a number of the organisation’s world-class events including the World Darts Championship, World Championship of Ping Pong, the Mosconi Cup and snooker’s Masters.

APPCT is responsible for the ongoing restoration and maintenance of the iconic North London venue and of its award-winning parkland. The charity is also growing its social impact through its Creative Learning programme, which works with community groups and young people in Haringey and beyond. In addition to the new funding from the Matchroom Sport Charitable Foundation, the Palace’s Creative Learning programme is funded by the National Lottery Heritage Fund and Haringey Council, as well as other supporters.

Since 2012, APPCT’s Creative Learning team has grown its young people’s provision from the ground up – from zero to over 5,000 participants in 2018. You can find out more about the work of the charity here.

Louise Stewart, Chief Executive of APPCT, said: “Our relationship with Matchroom now extends well beyond events. Through their support of our Creative Learning Programme, we will be able to deliver more benefit that will be felt throughout our local community. Alexandra Park is an invaluable asset and this funding underscores the importance of green spaces in helping us lead healthy lives.”

Matchroom Sport Charitable Foundation trustee Edward Lowy said: "Alexandra Palace has become a home for events staged across our Matchroom portfolio, so to be able to help fund the Young People's Park Programme is an exciting way for us to expand our relationship. We look forward to seeing the development of the Young People's Park Programme in the coming years."

Lowy added: "With the Matchroom Sport Charitable Foundation benefitting from every ticket sold at our events, this was a fitting way to use those donations to benefit a long-standing event partner."

The Matchroom Sport Charitable Foundation was created to centralise the benevolent efforts of Matchroom Sport, the global sports promotion company headed by Barry Hearn, and its subsidiaries – the Professional Darts Corporation, World Snooker and the PGA EuroPro Tour.

Matchroom Sport promotes in excess of 100 events per year and part of the Foundation’s funding comes from a contribution equivalent to £1 for every ticket sold for these events, with over £1 million having now been awarded since its creation in 2016.

Find out more about the Matchroom Sport Charitable Foundation here.