A £½m community sports project has been launched in Huddersfield.

And the Almondbury scheme has got star backing.

Award-winning Huddersfield actress, Lena Headey, who is best known for her spellbinding portrayal of Cersei Lannister in Game of Thrones, is lending her support to a local charitable trust, which is raising funds to pay for the new sports pavilion in Almondbury, headed by her dad

The initiative is being spearheaded by the King James’s School Foundation, which owns the land where the new facility will be built. Specific plans include replacing the school’s existing – and dilapidated – cricket pavilion with a brand-new and much larger sports facility, which a variety of community groups can hire for both winter and summer sporting activities and meetings.

The new pavilion will also feature extended dressing room accommodation that will allow two games of football to be played simultaneously on fields adjoining the site, and it is hoped that the pavilion will also become the new home of Almondbury Lions Junior Football Club.

Lena’s family is involved with the project and the star said: “I think this is a great initiative for people to come together and enjoy sport in a comfortable and picturesque setting that I know well. “The project will provide a first-class facility for students at the school, and I am particularly hopeful that it will encourage more women into sport across the local area.”

Fundraising efforts are being driven largely by the Trustees of the King James’s School Foundation together with John Headey, Lena’s father and long-term secretary of the Almondburians’ Cricket Club, which has used the current pavilion for many years.

Almondburians cricket ground at King James's School, Almondbury.

It is estimated that the project will cost in the region of £500,000, with half of this sum being provided from the existing resources of the Trust. The remainder will come from applications to sporting foundations, appeals to interested parties, and a formal black tie charity dinner and ball.

Graham Cliffe, chairman of the Trustees, said: “Our aim is to deliver a fantastic sports facility of which members of King James’s School and the wider local community can be proud. It is our intention to ensure that the new pavilion will be used all year round for a number of different sports and activities, and we believe it will prove to be a valuable asset.”

The black tie event will be held on October 9 at the Cedar Court Hotel, Ainley Top, and Kevin Connolly, one of the UK’s favourite impressionists from ‘Dead Ringers’ fame, will provide entertainment. There will also be live music and a charity auction, where Game of Thrones fans will be able to bid for memorabilia signed by Lena and other members of the cast.

Tickets are available to all members of the public, and are priced at £50 per head, which includes a Champagne reception and three course meal.

Take a look at our Lena Headey gallery below.