Karen Bradley: In this week's column on Nub News, the Moorlands MP has discussed the importance of supporting local sport.

It is so good to be able to attend sporting events in person again and last Friday I was pleased to watch the fabulous Leek Town play against Runcorn Linnets.

The match took place at the Silverlands Stadium in Buxton due to work on the pitch that is currently taking place at Leek Town FC's Harrison Park ground.

It was great to see so many familiar faces from Harrison Park supporting the team, even if the result wasn't what we were all hoping for.

With the support of Staffordshire Moorlands District Council and the Football Foundation, the club were awarded funding for upgrades to facilities including a new all-weather 3G pitch.

It was therefore great to catch up with Chairman Jon Eeles and his team on Friday and hear about how the new 3G surface will allow the pitch to be used every day and will increase the access to sporting facilities for the local community.

This is such an exciting project and I know that players, management supporters and local residents will be delighted when it is finally finished and we can all enjoy our brand new pitch at Harrison Park.

On the subject of sporting events, I have to congratulate TeamGB at the Paralympics and especially our very own local athlete, Sir Lee Pearson CBE for his 12th gold medal, riding his lovely horse Breezer in the individual championships.

Lee is a six-time Paralympian and here in the Moorlands we are all so proud of him as he obtained a score of 76.26% finishing almost 3% ahead of the silver medallist.

We have to mention his wonderful horse Breezer too who Lee raised from birth to become the champion he is. Very well done to Lee and Breezer and all concerned.

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