Grant to improve site football pitch

The grant - and additional £4,000 provided by Kimberley School – has enabled the leisure centre to replace all of its mini-soccer goals on the full size 3G pitch.

The goals are used for recreational and competitive games for 5-a-side and 7-a-side and will directly benefit the leisure centre’s partner club, Priory Celtic FC who use the facilities for playing matches in the Young Elizabethan League.

Kimberley School is based on the site and pupils will also be able to take advantage of the new equipment.

The school students use the facilities daily as part of their PE curriculum and for school football matches.

Broxtowe Borough Council’s Portfolio Holder for Leisure, Councillor Jill Owen said: “This will make living a healthy and active lifestyle more accessible to our residents. The project is a fantastic example of what can be achieved through partnership working within the local community.”

The grant was from the Premier League and The FA Facilities Fund, which provides grants towards developing new or refurbished grassroots football facilities.

The fund is funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government, via Sport England. It is delivered by the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity.

Since it was launched in 2000, the foundation has awarded around 13,000 grants worth more than £530m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £740m – over £1.3bn of investment into the grassroots game.

Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “This development will provide a real boost to football in the local area. Since 2000 the Football Foundation has supported grassroots projects worth more than £1.3bn, investing into areas where the need is greatest and where it will have the biggest impact in terms of getting more people playing football and a wide range of other sports.