THE Farnham Community Games has been discontinued after inspiring thousands of people to get active and try new sports since 2012.

Held every late August Bank Holiday for the past five years, the Community Games was a legacy initiative stemming from the London 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games - backed by town MP and the then-Culture, Olympics, Media and Sport Secretary Jeremy Hunt.

More than 2,000 visitors attended the latest event on Monday, August 29, and enjoyed taster sessions provided by some 30 community sports clubs at the joint venues of the Farnham Rugby Club and the David Lloyd Club.

However, the Games is a huge challenge to plan and run, and for this reason organisers the Farnham Sports Council have taken the “upsetting” decision to discontinue the event.

David Gill, chairman of the council, said: “Farnham Sports Council is a voluntary organisation, it does a lot of behind the scenes work to support and promote sport in Farnham. 

“The Farnham Community Games has been the biggest project the sports council has ever undertaken but it takes up a huge amount of voluntary time to pull it together, especially as we try to do it to a good standard.

“That’s simply the reason for discontinuing it, just every year finding that amount of organisational time as volunteers.”

Mr Gill added his thanks for the support of key partners and many of the town’s sports clubs over the years, as well as the event’s two host venues Farnham Rugby Club and David Lloyd Leisure.