Football legend John Barnes joined John at the event, which highlighted a campaign to provide more tax relief for sports clubs that offer sporting activities for children.

John Mann MP said: “Sport and recreation clubs are a vital part of our social fabric. There are dozens of clubs in Bassetlaw that do a fantastic job providing sports facilities for children. Many of them are run by volunteers who put in a lot of time and effort to give our kids the chance to take part in sports.

“They deserve more support, and providing tax relief on junior subscriptions is a great way of giving them that. I am asking the Government to expand the Gift Aid scheme to help children’s sports. It can make all the difference in boosting sports participation by children in the run up to the 2012 Games.”

CCPR is calling on the Government to enhance the benefits of the Community Amateur Sports Club Scheme which over 4,450 clubs have already signed up to. Clubs offering activities popular amongst children, such as swimming, gymnastics and netball, have been the slowest to join the scheme which is why CCPR believes the introduction of Gift Aid on junior subscriptions would be of significant benefit to all sports clubs.

Guest of honour, John Barnes, said:

“Sport should always be high up the political agenda. I know from my experience as a player, as a coach and as an ambassador for Access Sport, the power that sport has to unite communities, to build confidence, to teach new skills and to help people get fit and healthy.”

“The CASC scheme is one of the best ways for clubs to save money. I know how important even small amounts of extra cash can be for clubs. The more clubs sign up to the scheme the more money there will be in sport and, hopefully, this event will raise awareness of that.