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New Changing Complex Official Opening

Bottesford Town Football Club had cause for a double celebration today when they had the official opening of their new £350,000 Changing rooms and meeting room complex and they also received the distinguished F.A. Charter Standard Community Club Award for 2009 from the Lincolnshire Football Association.

The official opening was undertaken by Stuart Pearce, the England U-21 Head Coach, who is no stranger to Birch Park since he last visited the Club in..... with a number of the players from the England U19 team to meet the young players and officials of the Community Club.

The event was attended by a number of ‘partners’ and ‘stakeholders’ in the project who had pledged their support for this latest initiative which provides changing room facilities and the enhancement of the immediate surrounding area at the Football Club (Birch Park) enabling it to meet its current needs and the future needs of its development as a FA Charter Standard Community Club.

The project is seen as being an essential phase of what is a phased series of developments at the Football Club and has provided for four changing rooms with showers, two officials changing rooms, W.C. provision for male, female and disabled, disability access, a meeting room, a player’s treatment room and a utilities room.

The layout will accommodate all personnel who utilise the present playing facilities at Birch Park, all on a seven days a week basis.

The changing rooms will also be utilised by the additional ‘user groups’ who will benefit from some of the additional facilities that are identified within the Club Facilities Development Plan which will greatly enhance the FA Charter Standard Community Club.

Tony Reeve, Chairman of Bottesford Town FC, said: “The Project has come to fruition as a result of the efforts and hard work undertaken by members of the Football Club management team and the significant support and contributions from a number of ‘partners’ in the project.

“Guidance was sought and obtained from the Lincolnshire Football Association who in conjunction with the Football Foundation Technical Department assisted in determining the project specification.

“The Voluntary Action North Lincolnshire team (VANL) provided guidance on how to approach partnership funding and as a result we established the following ‘stakeholders’ in our scheme to all of whom I express the sincere thanks of the Football Club.”

·The Football Foundation who provided the bulk of the funding for the project, the UK’s largest sports charity with a £186,280 grant. The Foundation is dedicated to revitalising the grass roots of the game, constructing modern football facilities, developing football as a force for social cohesion and as a vehicle for education in communities throughout the country. Funded by the Premier League, The Football Association and the Government, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity with a £40m budget going straight into the heart of football.

·The Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF) who contributed £16,093 towards the scheme from a separate pot of money provided by the Premier League and The FA of just over £5m per year, which funds Stadia work at the lower levels of the game, namely, the Club’s 1st team who play in Division 1 of the Northern Counties East League, who will benefit from the use of the facilities

·The Landfill Communities Fund of Waste Recycling Group (WRG) which is administered by the Environmental Body WREN, who provided a grant of £46,760.

·Biffaward, a multi-million pound environment fund managed by the Royal Society of Wildlife Trusts (RSWT), which utilises landfill tax credits donated by Biffa Waste Services, a grant of £38,377.

The Chairman went on to emphasise the support that the Club had received throughout the planning and preparation phases of the scheme from members of the North Lincolnshire Council who awarded the Club with a grant of £30,000 from the ‘Aid to Communities’ Fund, and also the local Bottesford Town Council who also made a generous donation of £5,000 towards the project”.

In terms of the new facility, the final design, contract administration and overall project management was undertaken by C.R.Parrott Consultants Limited who ........

Following a competitive tendering exercise, the contract for the build of the project was awarded to another local organisation, T.G.Sowerby Developments Limited who further contracted the design and installation of the Mechanical and Electrical Services to Hanson Resource Management Limited.

Some of our readers might well ask the question of “Who are Bottesford Town Football Club ?”

Well, the Club is located at Birch Park just off Ontario Road, Bottesford, where in addition to it’s own teams, the Club plays host to the Scunthorpe United Youth team for all of their home and Cup fixtures.

When you look at the history of the Football Club, it has come a long way since it was first formed in 1974 when they were provided with the opportunity to play their football in the Lincolnshire Football League. Their original base was at the Dolphin Pub at Yaddlethorpe, with football being played at the Frederick Gough School.

The Club moved to its current Birch Park home off Ontario Road in 1983, at this time a lease-hold was obtained from the North Lincolnshire County Council for sufficient land to enable a small Clubhouse incorporating changing rooms to be built and a single football pitch to be established.

In 1985 the Clubhouse underwent an extension to enhance the facilities for the Club membership; in addition, the lease-hold was modified to include additional land which was developed by the membership to facilitate the establishment of a cricket square and outfield.
Senior football was enhanced in the early 90’s with the introduction of teams in both the local Saturday and Sunday Football Leagues with the senior team experiencing their most successful period winning the Lincolnshire League in three successive seasons, together with a trio of cup wins.
The Chairman went on to explain that he first came on the scene in the mid to late 90’s and in 2000 a significant step forward was made with the senior team entering the Central Midlands League where in the 2006/07 season they became Supreme League Champions and gained promotion to the Northern Counties East Football League where they are at located at present in Division1 with aspirations for climbing the Football Pyramid.
To qualify for this promotion many improvements have had to be made to the football ground facilities which would not have been possible without the support of a number of local business colleagues.
This work has entailed amongst other tasks the erection of an enclosure around the pitch, provision of hard standing on all 4 sides of the main pitch, and covered standing and seated areas for the spectators.

Going back to the year 2000, by far the more significant step forward for the Club saw the amalgamation of the Junior and Senior Clubs clearly demonstrating that players starting with the Club at the age of 6 could be encouraged to stay with the Club for their development in football.

To support the amalgamation, for the third time additional land was obtained from the North Lincolnshire Council and a further lease-hold secured for the land.
Once again, the waste-land was developed by the club membership into a recreational area providing a number of mini-soccer and/or junior pitches, training areas, and providing a ‘home’ and a base for the juniors to play their football.

Prior to this historic move, Bottesford Junior Football Club had been in existence for a number of years with numerous teams at varying ages playing on local schools and council pitches

With the Football Club for many years supporting both the local and the County Football Leagues with both Saturday and Sunday football, the continuity in-house for progression from youth to senior football was practised with the youth teams in particular experiencing levels of success on the way
In recent years the Club has not been represented in the local Saturday League with the youth team electing to play their football on a Sunday, this season features 2 teams in the local Sunday league and the Youth team playing in the Lincolnshire Intermediate League.

The Club’s Football Development programme will provide for the return of a progression route for the youth to play Saturday football.

Since the formation of the ‘one’ Football Club the Junior section of the Club has significantly grown, the Club has today teams playing mini-soccer in the local Caparo League, 11 a-side teams in the Kalson League and these have been ‘boosted’ for the second year by the introduction of a ‘Bears’ section with children at the age of 6 being introduced to football

Over the years many teams have achieved notable successes with quite a number of players being selected to join the Scunthorpe United F.C. School of Excellence.

Six years ago saw the introduction of girls’ football into the Club as part of the ongoing developing scene; we are considered to be one of the top girls’ Clubs in the region. Last season we had teams successfully competing in the South Humber Ladies’ League, we have a ladies’ team, which competes in the Lincolnshire County League, and we hope for future success as the girls mature.

The Club’s proudest moment was in 2003, when they became a FA Charter Standard Community Club, being one of the first Clubs in the country to get the achievement. The Club had to work very hard to meet all of the FA criteria and is now reaping the benefits and rewards. Extensive coaching schemes have been established with local schools through the Lincolnshire FA with many of the older junior players being involved in coaching and refereeing and enjoying the success that comes with ‘quality’ coaching with numerous league and cup successes.

In accord the Club has been rewarded for the efforts of the members of the Club having achieved the distinction of being awarded by the Lincolnshire Football Association as the 2009 FA Charter Standard Club of the year

In looking forward, the Chairman re-emphasised the importance of the input that was required by the management teams and the membership of the Club for sustaining the existing Community Charter Standard whilst at the same time looking for additional support from the local Community and Business interests for the further development of the ‘flagship’ of the Club, namely the 1st team.
He went on to explain that to maintain the existing facilities and to further the progress of the Club both on the field of play and the additional enhancement of our facilities, we are continually looking to engage additional local support and those interested would be more than welcome.