Milton Country Park Watersport Access Improvements

Aim: By raising vital funds we can improve the access to multiple lakes on site and improve equipment to put a wider demographic of sessions on.

Who are we?

Cambridge Sport Lakes Trust is a charity established for the creation and operation of a multi-sports facility and park in Cambridgeshire - Milton Country Park. At Milton Country Park the trust works closely with community, business, schools and charity groups to create inclusive access to outdoor sport, leisure and education. We have no regular support from any external sources and as such rely on income from our activities, parking fees and donations from members of the public. This is why we need your help today through this crowdfunder.

Why are we crowdfunding?

The park has been suffering with annual blue green algae blooms rendering it unfit for our regular programme in these times. We have been able to move to be able to use some of the other lakes but the access points are not currently set up to be used by large groups. The first part of our funding is to be used to set up new watersports programme launch points to make them safe and accessible for all in our groups. Many people rely on our watersports and swimming sessions for their physical but also their mental health and having to cancel the sessions for the blue green algae can have a real impact on these people and the community.

The next part of our funding is to fix the main wooden bridge from the watersports containers over to Todds Pit. This bridge is one of the most walked over bridges and is in desperate need to be stripped down and rebuilt to make it safer for all park users to cross but also without it our watersports equipment will not be able to get from the containers to Todds Pit. Due to the bad weather over winter the work is more extensive than first thought and so this will be a costly but essential exercise.

The third part of this funding is to be able to replace and increase the amount of kit we have to be able to service a greater proportion of the community. Funding will purchase paddleboards and canoes alongside associated safety kit, such as buoyancy aids and leashes to allow us to discard older pieces of kit with more suitable newer kit that service more of a range of users.

Sport England sees the value of our project and has pledged £8,178 if we can raise the other £8,178 through 25 unique supporters through this crowdfunder. We are really excited by this challenge set by Sport England and we need your help to get there!

How you can play your part and support us

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – maybe a sponsored activity or similar – use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 9th September 2025 at 11:24am