LEIGH RL club has landed a £150,000 ground improvement windfall - with the promise of more to come.

The Hilton Park outfit is one of three clubs to receive cash handouts from the new Sports Ground Initiative Trust, an organisation set up on the lines of the Football Trust.

Super League club Workington and first division Featherstone have each been given £250,000 while Leigh have the promise of a £100,000 top-up if they get out of Division Two.

The bulk of Leigh's £150,000 bonanza is earmarked for the complete replacement of Hilton Park's inadequate floodlighting system with the remainder going towards a new PA system and the re-cladding of the Supporters Club stand. But to qualify for the grant Leigh must first settle their financial arrangements with the administrators who handled the club's affairs for 18 months. Ground improvement work must also start before July and be completed within 12 months.

Delighted Leigh chairman Mick Higgins said today: "We should be in a position to pay off the administrators within the next two or three weeks, then we'll be able to take the grant, form a new board and really begin to take Leigh forward.

"We had hoped for the full £250,000 but because we're still in Division Two the Sports Ground Initiative Trust had some reservations. But we've been told we can re-apply in the future for the £100,000 balance.

"But we can't really grumble because it's the first time the club has ever received a grant of this nature. It shows other people really have faith in us." Leigh will stage a BARLA youth international on Friday when a Presidents X111 will meet France, kick off 7.30pm. Two Leigh players will be involved; Tony Gredecki from Leigh East and Scott Hilton of Leigh Miners.

The full international side play France at Dewsbury on Sunday with Mark Kay (Leigh East), Chris Lee (Leigh Miners), Paul Fairhurst (Leigh East) and Justin Ganley (Leigh East) in the starting line-up.

Converted for the new archive on 14 July 2000. Some images and formatting may have been lost in the conversion.