Devon County Council chairman Jerry Brook is pictured presenting Exmouth Town FC chairman Bob Chamberlain with a plaque in recognition of the £5,000 given to the club for improvements. The money is part of the sum raised by the sale of Exeter Airport. The two are pictured with cllr Bernard Hughes and representatives from the club. Photo by Simon Horn. Ref exe 0209-10-13SH To order your copy of this photograph go to www.exmouthjournal.co.uk and click on MyPhotos24.

Two Exmouth sports clubs have been given a cash boost by Devon County Council.

Devon County Council chairman Jerry Brook is pictured at Withycombe Rugby Club with chairman Mervyn Richards and builders John Annandale, Simon Laurence and Russell Chilton who carried out the improvement work following £6,700 being donated to the club The money is part of the sum raised by the sale of Exeter Airport. Photo by Simon Horn. Ref exe 0230-10-13SH To order your copy of this photograph go to www.exmouthjournal.co.uk and click on MyPhotos24.

And both Exmouth Town Football Club and Withycombe Rugby Club have used the money to improve facilities for disabled people.

The clubs were chosen to receive grants by county councillor Bernard Hughes, from the capital grants scheme which allows each councillor to support community causes in their ward with money from the council’s sale of Exeter Airport.

Cllr Hughes said he thought the whole community would benefit from the clubs’ grants.

He said: “In the [Halsdon] ward I represent we have no public halls, so the two sports clubs need to be used by the community for various activities – children’s parties, Probus Club meetings and so on.

“In the two [clubhouse] buildings, neither had facilities for the disabled, so both clubs have used the money to put in facilities for disabled people.”

The football club received £5,000, and the rugby club, which is also used as a polling station for elections, received £6,700.

Both clubs installed disabled toilets, and the rugby club also fitted a new, wheelchair-accessible front door.

Football club secretary David Richardson said: “We appreciate the money that’s been given to us – we wouldn’t have been able to afford [the toilets] without the council’s help.”

Rugby club secretary Dave Josey said: “We’re absolutely delighted with what we’ve done, and our thanks go to Devon County Council for that.”

To mark the grants, county council chairman Jerry Brook visited the clubs last weekend, and ended up staying to watch Withycombe’s match against Tiverton.