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Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson joined young players to officially open Mersey Valley Sports Club’s new £675,400 clubhouse and changing facilities on Thursday 22 February.
The outstanding new sports facilities were funded with a Football Foundation grant of £504,476 as part of the Community Club Development Programme (CCDP) from Sport England. The programme, funded by Government and managed by Sport England, is specifically earmarked to develop links between sports clubs and their local communities, providing quality coaching and safe environments for young people to enjoy sport.
Ashton-on-Mersey Junior Football Club was founded ten years ago as a coaching centre for youngsters in the Ashton-on-Mersey area. The club provides soccer facilities for over 200 local youngsters, many of them drawn from three council estates in Ashton-on-Mersey. Last year it was awarded ‘Community Club of the Year’ by Cheshire County FA. The club is also nominated for Trafford’s prestigious ‘Club of the Year Award’ - and players and officials will be attending the awards evening this week.
The project received a donation of more than £100,000 from Procter and Gamble and the remainder of the money has been raised by parents and volunteers. It is estimated that the new facilities will boost opportunities to play sport by 300%. The new clubhouse will also open up access to football and other sports for women and girls and disabled players as well as enabling many local coaches to become fully qualified.
Tony Lowe is the founder of Ashton-on-Mersey Junior Football Club, and a UEFA licensed coach. Tony said: “Sir Alex has maintained a keen interest in our progress, especially since we decided to build a state of the art clubhouse. We’re delighted that he has agreed to officially open it for us, it’s a great honour. Thanks to the CCDP funding from Sport England and the Football Foundation we now have one of the best clubhouses in the North West. The facilities are fantastic. It’s wonderful that Sir Alex acknowledges the work we’re doing. He has been tremendously supportive and it gives our youngsters tremendous pride to think he supports them.”
Stewart Kellett, Regional Director, Sport England, said: “This facility is key to the local development of football and we are committed to making sure that the club continues to provide access for the community. The Community Club Development Programme represents a new way of working for Sport England, where national governing bodies are involved in the initial selection of possible projects for funding, based on their own strategic plans. This investment through the Football Foundation will have such a positive effect on the development of the sport at all levels in this area.”
Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “I am delighted that a great club like Ashton-on-Mersey JFC is now playing a vital role in developing the grass roots game in their area. The CCDP funding partnership between The Football Association, Sport England and the Football Foundation is strengthening the bond between local clubs and the community.”
NOTES TO EDITORS
Sport England is working to create an active nation through sport, providing advice to partners, investing in community sport and promoting sport and its benefits. Our aim is to increase the number of people participating in sport and active recreation by around 2 million by 2012 with specific focus on hard to reach groups that are currently under-represented. Sport England is a non-departmental public body that distributes both Lottery and public funding to develop community sport.
“Community Club Development Programme” is an innovative collaboration between Government - the Department for Culture, Media and Sport, Sport England and 16 National Governing Bodies. As such, the programme is intended to address the needs of the backbone of English sport, the community based sports club. It aims to bring with it flexibility to encourage creative approaches to enhancing club facilities and increasing participation by members of the local community.
Funding is £60 million - £20 million from the Government’s Capital Modernisation Fund and £40 million from the Spending Review 2002 (covering the years 2003-04, 04-05 and 05-06), - and is intended to allow for a total around 250-300 projects. The 16 National Governing Bodies are arranged in two bands. Band 1 sports are to receive a fixed allocation of funding over three years (£9.4m), and is comprised of Football, Lawn Tennis, Cricket and Rugby Union. Band two sports are able to bid from a pot totalling £20m over three years. The sports included in band two are Rowing, Hockey, Canoeing, Netball, Table Tennis, Judo, Basketball, Cycling, Gymnastics, Badminton, Rugby League and Swimming. Please note that the funding is from the Exchequer and not from the National Lottery.
1.The overall aims of this investment programme are:
a.To assist in creating a sustainable and financially viable sports club infrastructure in England that links with schools, provides appropriate support and pathways for identifying and developing talented individuals and meets the needs of local communities.
b.To increase club membership levels among young people and to support the development of quality assured ‘junior’ sections of clubs.
c.To increase club membership among women, black and other ethnic groups and people with disabilities.
2.The objectives which the investment programme is seeking to achieve are:
a.To promote the development of sports clubs for young people through enhancing club school links and extending community access
b.To promote the development of ‘hub/beacon’ clubs that create club networks and pathways through sport linked to the NGB programmes
c.To promote the development of multi sport clubs to achieve economies of scale and to promote cross sport co-operation and development
d.To ensure that facility investment is supported by adequate investment in the training and development of key people (coaches, officials and administrators)
e.To create a large investment programme and ensure long-term viability and sustainability.
The programme itself was signed off by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport in December 2002, and it was agreed that management of the programme be handed to Sport England.
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