The Football Club officially announced this morning that the construction of new clubhouse and changing rooms for both juniors and seniors at the Goldstar Ground, accommodating girls and boys facilities was officially commenced on Monday 15 th August.
There was a short ceremony on the site where the actual clubhouse will stand as Club President Dave Ashford lifted the first turf, surrounded by various guests and club members including councillors, members of the Suffolk Football Association and the Under Secretary of State at DEFRA, Therese Coffey MP, who has been instrumental in her role as Suffolk Coastal MP in supporting the club in its fundraising activities both financially and by helping to advertise the clubs plans via her various outlets.
After the ceremonial ‘dig’ the guests, which also included representatives of the junior section, were served refreshments in the ‘old’ Cricket Pavilion which has served as the club’s headquarters for the past 40 years.
Construction is estimated to take 26 weeks, however the time scale is very much dependent on the weather as the winter months approach, and the football club will have no serious issues if there is an over-run of 4-6 weeks with the end of April coinciding with the official end of the league season and the club’s main expectation of a finish date.
The project, costing almost £500,000 will include four changing rooms, two officials changing rooms, toilets and social area and will be available for the whole community to use, as well as the clubs 23 senior & junior teams.
It has taken two years of hard work by the small dedicated development team from within the club who have given their time freely and put together bids, arranged architects, negotiated leases and generally overseen all the preparatory work required.
Main funding grants have come from three sources - The Football Foundation which is the UK’s largest sports’ charity. Funded by the Premier League, The Football Association and the Government, the Foundation directs £30m every year into grassroots sport and they supported the clubs bid with a grant of £269,594.
The Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF) provides grants to football clubs to improve their stadium facilities for players, officials and spectators and in the case of Felixstowe & Walton United awarded a grant of £88,100.
The third party to award a grant was The Veolia Environmental Trust who awarded the club £50,000 through the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF).
There have been many smaller grants that make up the total from bodies supporting the project including Suffolk Coastal District Council, Felixstowe Town Council and individual grants from councillors out of their facilities fund.
Chris Daynes, the club’s facilities manager and development co-ordinator said “The start of building work is a major milestone in our development plans. Many, myself included, doubted we would ever see this day and it is a credit to all those who have contributed that construction is underway, and we are able to see the culmination of all those efforts rising from the ground, securing facilities we desperately need if we are to continue providing future generations of the town with top class football opportunities and to become an integral hub of the community.
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