Football club charity nets £35,000 to support youth work

The charity linked to Oswestry’s football club has been awarded almost £35,000 in grants to support youth projects across the region.

The New Saints FC Foundation, which funds and runs activities for youngsters, has been awarded £19,975 from The National Lottery Community Fund for youth activity clubs in the villages and towns of north west Shropshire for the next 12 months.

It has also won a further £14,750 from the Heart of England Community Fund for a joint project with the Marches Academy called Sport is the Key which aims to help young people improve their engagement and achievement at school.

The Foundation already runs weekly youth clubs in Gobowen, Weston Rhyn, Whittington, Ellesmere and Oswestry through term time with the support of local organisations including parish and town councils.

The National Lottery Community Fund £19,975 grant will allow The New Saints FC foundation to double the available funding and guarantee the future of the youth clubs for another year.

Gill Jones of The New Saints FC Foundation said that the charity was reliant on the support of local organisations, in particular the parish and town councils in the rural areas, to keep the youth clubs going.

“However, the cost of providing a safe, weekly provision is quite high, and so the Foundation has sought support from the National Lottery Community fund to help ease the burden on these local areas of trying to deliver services for young people.

“The lottery funding will mean that the Foundation is able to ‘match’ the funding that parish councils are able to provide to ensure we can continue to provide these activities for young people each week in their local area,” she said.

Activities vary in each location depending on what young people want to do. They range from darts, table tennis, jewellery making, tie-dye, FIFA games, table games and music.

Gill said the lottery funding would contribute towards the costs of staffing the clubs as well as giving the opportunity for additional activities and resources for older young people, those with Special Educational Needs and neuro-diverse young people.

“The project will ensure young people can continue to meet safely, to socialise and experience positive activities they otherwise would have minimal or no access to in the communities in which they live,” she said.

The youth clubs are open to young people aged 10 to 16 years, and further information can be obtained by contacting info@tnsfcfoundation.org.uk

The Foundation has also been awarded £14,750 from the Heart of England Community Fund to support its joint project with The Marches Academy.

The grant comes from the Inclusive Communities Fund and has supported a second term of the Sport is the Key project where Foundation staff, teachers and partners from other agencies work with young people at risk of becoming disengaged from school.

Gill Jones explained that the project offered sport or physical activity to re-engage young people and improve their achievement at school.

“The aim is to help young people make positive choices and decisions, contributing and thinking positively about themselves now and in the future,” she said.

Each weekly session covered themes such as aspiring and achieving, teamworking, personal wellbeing, planning, job roles and opportunities in sports organisations/businesses, skills and behaviour for success, positive mental health and wellbeing.

Young people are encouraged to set their own goals as well as taking part in a wide range of engaging, fun sports and physical activities.

“All sessions are accompanied by breakfast and a healthy meal at the conclusion, provided by the Foundation’s partners OsNosh, when young people are supported to reflect on and celebrate their achievements,” said Gill.