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Long Melford Football Club in race against time to ensure future as deadline to secure £500,000 grant to regenerate clubhouse approaches




A 150-year-old football club – thought to be one of the ten oldest in Britain – is in a race against time to ensure its future, as it seeks funding for a vital regeneration of its deteriorating clubhouse.

An extraordinary meeting has been called by Long Melford Parish Council for tonight, involving several village organisations, to resolve the urgent hurdles facing Long Melford Football Club’s bid to build a new £750,000 sports pavilion at Stoneylands.

The proposal, led by the Long Melford Community Sports Trust, hinges on the football club agreeing a 25-year lease to continue sharing use of the village playing field with Long Melford Cricket Club, as part of the conditions for receiving a £500,000 grant towards the project.

Long Melford FC bage on the sign at the entrance to their Stoneylands ground entrance (26892933)
Long Melford FC bage on the sign at the entrance to their Stoneylands ground entrance (26892933)

However, negotiations over the lease agreement have stalled, with the deadline for meeting the conditions to secure the grant now less than one month away.

On Thursday, the parish council, which co-signed the existing agreement allowing the football club to use the playing field, voted in principle to approve the 25-year lease, subject to legal advice and consultation with interested parties, which takes place this evening.

Parish council chairman John Nunn, who also sits on the football club’s board of directors, said: “Our clubhouse is in a dire state.

“If it isn’t rebuilt within the next year or so, I can see Babergh District Council coming in and closing it down. Without a clubhouse, we are not a football club.”

At last week’s meeting, Peter Turner, chairman of the Community Sports Trust, stated the new clubhouse is urgently needed, not only for the senior team, but also the colts and fillies, which comprise between 200 and 300 youngsters, many of whom have additional needs.

He told councillors much of the project’s funding is in place – including £50,000 previously allocated by the council – but if the 25-year lease requirement is not met by February 13, they would lose out on the £500,000 grant.

“If we cannot secure this grant, being a realist, we’re not going to see this project,” said Mr Turner, who is also a director of the football club.

“If we don’t get the relevant ticks in the relevant boxes, we’re going to lose this project.

“It’s fair to say that we could also lose the 10th oldest football club in the country. Long Melford has a proud tradition in terms of football.

“Mindful of the deadline, we are exploring every avenue. We don’t want to miss out on this grant.”

He added that, although the funding for the building is emphasised around football, the new catering facilities, showers, changing rooms and bar would offer a general use for other organisations throughout the village to use.

Rob Bowden, vice-chairman of the trust, explained it has been envisaged that the new clubhouse would enable the trust to generate revenue to further enhance the facilities.

“The Community Sports Trust was set up with a specific aim of protecting the future of the club, expanding the colts and fillies, and developing the facilities for the whole community,” he told the Free Press.

“It’s a unique opportunity to be able to safeguard the future of the football club and provide a modern community facility for the whole village.

“As far as the colts and fillies are concerned, they’re the biggest youth group in the area and we want to be able to provide better facilities for them and provide the sort of environment they deserve.

“We’ve worked tirelessly over the last three years to come up with a plan that would satisfy these aims.

“The plans are in place, most of the funding is in place and it would be a total tragedy for the community as a whole if we don’t manage to get it across the line.

“I’m optimistic that it can still be done and will be done, but I think if this fails, we won’t get this opportunity ever again.”



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