TWISS GREEN PRIMARY SCHOOL OPEN NEW PITCH IN CULCHETH
Twiss Green Primary School has proudly welcomed the completion of their much-needed, Football Foundation funded grass pitch with an official opening.
The school was awarded a £10,829 grant from the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity, in order to upgrade their previous playing fields. These were unsafe and therefore unusable for pupils during the majority of the school year. The school had never been able to host a football match, and over the years a number of Sports Days had been cancelled due to the water-logged ground. The lack of pitch drainage affected not only the school's sports provision, but also its ability to host community events and to offer the use of the facilities to local football clubs.
Now, the much-needed improvements will mean the school’s football teams can enjoy playing home games at the site for the first time. Also standing to benefit are local youth team Culcheth Athletic FC, who will use the pitch throughout the year for training and games.
The school worked in partnership with the Cheshire Football Association to secure the £10,829 grant from the Football Foundation. Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government (via Sport England), the Football Foundation is the country’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 9,500 grants worth more than £410m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £560m. Across the whole of Cheshire, the Foundation has awarded 155 grants worth £8m towards grassroots sports projects worth £16m.
Lesley McGann, Head teacher at Twiss Green, said: “For the entire 15 years that I have worked at Twiss Green, the school field has been in a serious state of decline. Football training sessions have had to take place at the local High School 20 minute trek each way for the children.
“Now, we can already see the impact that the new drainage system is having; after two day of heavy rain, followed by an afternoon of brisk wind the pitch is virtually dry!
“This project would never have been possible without the generous support of the Football Foundation. The staff there have been incredibly supportive throughout.”
Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, added: “This is now an outstanding facility, which will benefit football and other sports in and around Culcheth. Developing new grassroots facilities, such as this, is essential to increasing the number of people who have a chance to stay fit and healthy through participating in sport.
“The Football Foundation is dedicated to improving sports sites across the country with investment from our funding partners – the Premier League, The FA, and the Government (via Sport England). I congratulate Twiss Green School and the Cheshire FA for their hard work on this project.”