Dalkeith Thistle Community Football Club, a Scottish FA Quality Mark community club applied to the SFP Trust back in November 2017 for support to assist them in purchasing new portable floodlights and portable goalposts. Over the winter months this growing club were finding it extremely difficult to provide training for all their age-groups and these new portable lights will allow the club to increase their training activity throughout the year at Cowden Park.
Additionally, some of the club’s old steel goalposts were heavy and cumbersome and no longer fit for purpose and these new portable goals will be easy for the coaches to assemble and transport.
The club have some of the best facilities in the area, however their Committee are continually trying to improve all aspects of the club and firmly believe that the young people of Dalkeith should be given every opportunity to participate, develop and enjoy the game of football. This family based football club actively encourage social participation beyond the boundaries of the football world.
The Trustees of The SFP Trust were so impressed with the ambitions and dedication of Dalkeith Thistle Community F.C. that they were delighted to award funding which included a donation from Bernard Hunter Crane Hire from Edinburgh who had provided funding to support the ongoing aims and objectives of the SFP Trust.
Mark Rafferty from Bernard Hunter commented “Bernard Hunter Mobile Cranes Ltd is delighted to support the SFP Trust and Dalkeith Thistle Community F.C. As a family owned and operated firm stretching back over seventy years, each of our three generations has enjoyed a close association with its local community. We realise the importance of sports participation in an inclusive environment for young people and as a local employer, with staff and their families in the neighbouring communities, we consider it a privilege to support community initiatives such as this. ”
Tony Cervi from the club added “Dalkeith Thistle Community F.C. is a fast growing community club with over 400 players now, ranging from toddlers all the way through to under 20’s and incorporating walking football and now disabled football. Because of the rapid increase in size, in common with other clubs we are coming up against constraints on when and where to train and play. The investment in portable floodlights has opened up a new opportunity for the older age groups to train in other parts of our facility, at later times, thereby increasing the training hours and protecting parts of our grass from over-use in the winter months. In terms of the folding goals, our view was that purchasing these would vastly reduce the time taken to set up and finish our games, giving the coaches a lot more time to coach and allowing parents and carers to come along and just enjoy the games! The assistance of the SFP Trust and Bernard Hunter in funding these investments has been a huge help to us, and we are very grateful to both organisations.”
