|
WORK on Nantwich
Town F.C.'s long-awaited £3.75 million new ground started on August 21, 2006.
It was two years since the plans
for the new ground in Kingsley Fields were first announced, but it was not until
July 11 that Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council planners gave the go-ahead for
the project.
The announcement on the website
said:
"Nantwich Town FC have announced
that they have completed the purchase of the site for their new ground at
Kingsley Fields and the sale of their Jackson Avenue ground to Barratt Homes.
After lengthy legal delays, a start is now expected on site on 21st August,
2006.
"Main contractor Bossons will start work on the £3.75million
project which is expected to take 40 weeks to complete. It means that the
scheduled match against Squires Gate on 14th April, 2007, will be the club's
last at Jackson Avenue. Further updates will appear on the website as work
progresses."
Previously the website had said the club
had received almost £1 million from the
Football Foundation -
"the U.K.'s largest sporting charity" - which announced it had awarded the
club "one of their largest ever grants." The actual sum was £959,995 which
also included £100,000 for a football development officer "to create more
opportunities for players of all ages and abilities to play the national
game." The Football Stadium Improvement Fund was also behind the grant.
Forty
weeks after the starting date, the club can expect to have "a superb new
stadium . . . a community sports facility . . . a full-size floodlit
3rd Generation pitch and a modern, two-storey |
|
The stand on the town side of the ground |
|
Development
Forum, Cheshire County F.A., Clare Wilson (Crewe and
Nantwich Borough Council), and South Cheshire Youth league.'
" 'On
a personal note, I would like thank all of our supporters for
their patience - Jon Brydon (Vice-Chairman) and Michael Chatwin
(President), Bob Melling and the Youth Committee who
have made my visions and dreams for this project turn into reality.' "
The Nantwich Chronicle quoted Mr Jackson as saying: "It has taken a long time but good things come
to those who wait. It is a great foundation to build on and the ground will
finally give our 28 teams a place to call home.
"We are aiming to get
promotion this season and then consolidate what we have got and push forward
with the aim of achieving Conference
football in the next few years."
The newspaper said the ground "will have a capacity of 3,500, a 350-seat
grandstand and covered standing accommodation for a further 700 spectators,
making it amongst the best non-league grounds in the country".
The club buildings just inside the entrance
gate |
|
changing pavilion, housing male and female changing rooms
for players and match officials, medical rooms and a huge social and
function suite."
I won't quote the website at length. Read it for
yourself by following the link above. But here is just one more quote from
the site. "Nantwich Town Chairman, Clive Jackson said
'We
have worked very hard over a number of years at the club to develop the
infrastructure to support our football development plan. The final stage
of this was to provide facilities for the use of our own sides and the community
in general. This would never have been possible without support and funding from
The Football Foundation. . . and the other contributors to the project -
Nantwich Town Council (£100,000) and Crewe and Nantwich Borough Council
(£60,000).
"
'We would further wish to thank the organisations and individuals who have
worked along side us to make this project possible, namely the local Football |
legend
is Dabbers'