Bonnyton Thistle F.C. Delivers ‘New Community Football Development Centre’
The Scottish Football Partnership Trust in conjunction with other key partners including East Ayrshire council, The Scottish FA ,sportscotland and the Renewable Energy Fund have assisted Bonnyton Thistle F.C. in developing a state of the art Community Football Centre at Townholm in Kilmarnock.
The club are one of Scotland premier grassroots organisations and currently hold the prestigious Scottish FA Legacy Level Quality Mark club accreditation due to the level of football activity they provide in their local community.
Bonnyton Thistle operate 19 teams ranging from age 5 (Mini-kickers) through to their new senior team which recently entered the South of Scotland League. In 2013 a new girls section was developed at the club which continues to grow and at present they have 4 teams from under 7 up to under 13 as well as a disability section. With almost 400 players and 52 qualified coaches the club identified that in order to continue to grow and develop a new facility needed to be created to support this growth.
Discussions with East Ayrshire council lead to a community asset transfer of an area of disused land in Townholm which the club, after many years of hard work and fundraising, have now developed into a full size FIFA 2 star pitch with supporting changing facilities.
Club Trustee Colin Kennedy said “After several years of hard work and collaboration with various funding partners, including the Scottish Football Partnership Trust, its fantastic to see the young kids at our club developing as players on a state of the art playing surface. Our new facility will only enhance what we can offer our club members and give us further scope for development in future years . As a club we now have a full player pathway and it is fantastic to see our young squads training alongside our new senior team as it gives them a real focus and something to aspire to as players at Bonnyton Thistle. This project is a good news story for Scottish Football and I would like to thank everyone who has supported our journey so far”.
