Scone Thistle Community Club from the Scottish FA East region were recent recipients of a £500 grant from The SFP Trust’s 2020 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.
This fantastic grassroots club who provide activity for over 220 players are assisted by 53 volunteer coaches who give of their time freely to support 14 different age-groups from youngsters taking their first steps into the game all the way through to 11-a-side football. The club opted to use their award to purchase new equipment, more specifically 9-a-side goals to help in the development of their players. 2009 Team Manager, Kerr Smith commented on the award and said “2020 has been very challenging and a tough year for the game but for Scone Thistle the year finished on a high. A great example of partnership working resulted in a joint funding bid to purchase 9 a side goals which were required to complete the club’s facility pathway for small-sided teams. Scone Thistle’s ‘Quality Mark Community Club’ status gave the club access to a £500 contribution from the SFA East Region and Gavin Tinley, SFA Club Development Manager went a step further and reached out to The Scottish Football Partnership Trust who also matched Gavin’s donation with an additional £500 contribution. With over 50% of the cost covered new goals were now within the club’s grasp. Two weeks from placing our initial request for financial support the new goals arrived which was an amazing achievement all round. Special thanks to the SFP Trust and the Kilpatrick Fraser Charitable Trust for their kind donation.”
