Kick off for Hexham's new junior football pitches

Posted by Hexham FC on Sep 24, 09 09:35 PM in Bloggers

After many years of trying to secure new facilities for the junior footballers in Hexham that long awaited day has finally arrived. The council has released an official start date for the work to begin.

This is a major investment by the local authorities and the Football Foundation and with tremendous backing from North Country Leisure the club will very soon have facilities to be proud of and a home to welcome all visiting teams.

A tremendous amount of hard work has gone into this project and a lot of fundraising from players and parents over the past few years. Some of the club members have since moved up to senior football but they can be proud of the part they have played in the future prospects of the club.

Following is the official press release from Northumberland County Council:

Work on a fantastic new development that will significantly improve football facilities in West Northumberland is due to kick off on site at Hexham on 5 October 2009, with site preparation from 28 September.

Following lots of detailed work by Northumberland County Council and the former Tynedale Council, along with Hexham Football Club, North Country Leisure (Tynedale) and educational activity centre provider Kingswood all agreements have been signed and sealed so that the project can be delivered.

The much anticipated new facilities for junior footballers in the Hexham area will include two football pitches, a training area, pavilion and car park. The development work, at Dukeshouse Wood south of Hexham, is due to be finished by the end of April 2010, with pitches ready to be played by the 20010/11 season.

The ÃÂ£800,000 project has been supported with ÃÂ£463,815 from the Football Foundation and further funding from Northumberland County Council, Hexham Football Club, the former Tynedale Council, and housing developers' funds.

The Football Foundation is the UK's largest sports charity, funded by the Premier League, The FA and Government. Since its launch in 2000 it has invested ÃÂ£10m into 127 grass roots projects across Northumberland.

Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation said: "I am delighted that the Football Foundation is supporting the development of new clubhouse and pitches at the Dukeshouse Wood site in Hexham.

"It is great news that work is commencing at the site and all of the local stakeholders, including the Northumberland County FA, deserve credit for their work so far. Once the facility opens its doors to the local community it will be a significant boost to sports provision in the area."

Councillor Mrs Isabel Hunter, executive member for culture at Northumberland County Council says: "We are all absolutely delighted to see work starting on this much needed new facility for junior football in this part of West Northumberland. I know that young footballers will be dying to get their boots on the new turf, and I hope that it provides huge benefits to junior football in the area."

Jon Armstrong is responsible for delivering the football development plan for Hexham FC.

He said: "The junior section of Hexham Football Club is thrilled that the Dukeshouse Wood scheme has now officially progressed to the build stage. Naturally we are grateful for the continued commitment and support from Northumberland County Council, North Country Leisure (Tynedale), the Northumberland Football Association and the Football Foundation, and we all look forward to the facility opening shortly after the 2010 World Cup!"

Hexham FC club secretary Doug Robson added: "It's been a great deal of hard work for a lot of people but this is great news that the construction is about to begin. This will provide a much needed facility for the club which will benefit many children in the area for years to come. It is a home for the club which everyone can be extremely proud of."

Through the Northumberland County Council members local improvement scheme contributions have also been received from Hexham councillors Derek Kennedy, Ingrid Whale and Terry Robson.

The completed facilities will be managed by Northumberland County Council in partnership with Hexham Football Club, with the site leased from Kingswood.

The leading provider of residential school trips and educational school tours said that it was delighted to be able support the creation of this fantastic sports facility.

Group development director Jonathan Barber said: "We look forward to working with Northumberland County Council in ensuring that this will be of huge benefit to local children as well as those in the wider community."

The development project will be managed by Crawford Higgins Associates on behalf of Northumberland County Council, with the main contractor Koru Property Services Limited from Gateshead.

Mark Taylor, director at Koru, said: "Koru has a long standing history of quality work delivered on time, and we are looking forward to working with all the partners and Northumberland County Council to ensure that the facilities at Dukeshouse Wood are second to none."

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