Gleniffer Thistle F.C., who are based at Abbotsinch Playing Fields in Paisley and have a playing membership of over 265, were recently granted an award of £500 from The SFP Trust’s 2019 Club Development Grant scheme. The initiative, funded by the SFP Trust in partnership with The Kilpatrick Fraser Charitable Trust, was developed to assist grassroots clubs in three specific areas – to increase participation by adding a new team to a club’s existing membership; to improve, enhance and sustain existing team activity through the purchase of new training equipment and/or funding First Aid training for coaches or thirdly to support Coach Education.
Gleniffer Thistle F.C., who were founded in 1972 with only one age-group and who now offer football across 14 different age groups, decided to utilise the funding to help purchase a defibrillator for their Abbotsinch facility. This equipment will help safeguard the players, coaches and other members of the wider community who regularly visit the facility on a weekly basis. Billy Hassan from the club commented “We are delighted with this award which has helped with the purchase of a defibrillator which can be seen here with our Under-17 girls’ team. The defibrillator will be kept at our pitches at Abbotsinch and will be available on match days and training nights – hopefully we will never have to use it. We would like to thank The Scottish Football Partnership Trust and The Kilpatrick Fraser Charitable Trust for this support to allow us to purchase this vital life-saving equipment.”