LETTER: Plea to MP to help save the tube

Dear Mr Quin

My name is Cleo Tomlinson. I am an 11yr old athlete and I compete for Horsham Blue Star Harriers Under 13s.

I am writing to you about the new BroadBridge Heath Leisure Centre and the plan to get rid of the tube.

I am strongly against this idea because without the tube our club would never be as good as it is now. The tube consists of a 60m straight and a long jump pit.

We can practise for high jump, long jump, pole vault, hurdles, sprinting and more all year round.

Our team is very strong, we rank number one in the U13 high jump, second in U13 hurdles, hold the U13 relay county champions title and recently one of our team won the girls Sussex County U13s Pentathlon, we had four girls in the top six positions. Plus Jade Lally, a Commonwealth Games bronze medalist, trains at BroadBridge Heath!

When the outdoor track is closed in the winter due to ice and frost everyone trains in the tube so it is a vital resource for us.

It is also used by other sporting clubs like archery, trampolining, cricket, and the Sussex Athletics Squad.

I dream to one day compete in the Olympics, and having the tube to train in will make a difference to all the athletes here.

Without it where will we train in the winter? Where will we do circuits?

The closest indoor tube from BroadBridge Heath is at Sutton. How will everyone be able to make it down to Sutton twice a week sometimes even more?!

The coaches for our club work so incredibly hard, we could never thank them enough.

It’s not just us that use the tube, the younger athletes that also want to be professionals and the older athletes that are training to be professionals use it regularly.

It would mean so much for all of us to keep the tube. Without it every rewarding training session in the winter would be freezing and dark and may even lead to great athletes quitting the sport.

We have a lot of indoor events coming up this winter including the Tanbridge indoor sports hall league and the Tom Pink relays at Lee Valley up in London.

How would we be able to train for them without the tube? We have had the privilege to use the tube for many years and we would love to continue using it.

I would like to personally invite you down to the tube to watch us train on any Monday or Wednesday evening from 6pm-7pm so you can see what a valuable asset the tube is for us.

Everyone at Horsham Blue Star Harriers would really, really love to keep the tube. It would mean so much to us. As a young athlete I would like to grow and be the best I can at the sport I love, and so does the whole team.

So please help us to keep the tube.

CLEO TOMLINSON

Willow Drive, Billingshurst

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