Club Testimonial
“I thought I’d email the Partnership on behalf of St Cuthbert Wanderers to convey the clubs’ sincere thanks for their invaluable assistance in the financing of our new covered spectator enclosure. The project as a whole has been a massive undertaking for a club of our size and means, and without the contribution from yourselves we quite simply would not have been in a position to go ahead with it. It is our aim to obtain an SFA Club License which will enable us to remain full members of the association and the covered enclosure is obviously an integral part of meeting the pre-determined criteria and in so doing, we are another considerable step closer to achieving that objective. The structure which preceded the new enclosure did not meet the criteria in that it couldn’t provide cover for 100 spectators and as well as this, it was deemed that it wasn’t structurally sound and therefore the club wouldn’t have been able to be issued with the necessary safety certification. Together with the investment from Sportscotland and the local council which has provided the club with a new 3G playing surface, the new enclosure has given the club a huge boost which has allowed St Mary’s Park to become something of a community facility as all our youth teams from under 8’s all the way up to under 15’s train and play matches there now which wasn’t possible even as recently as last season. It’s allowed us to bring both sections of the club together under one roof so to speak, and that’s been terrific for everyone involved both players and coaches alike. The youths get a real sense of belonging to the club by having St Mary’s as their full time base and it’s thanks to the investment from yourselves and the aforementioned funding sources that we have been able to do that. Allied to our own teams usage of the facility, we have also had Fleet Star FC using the facility to train over the winter as well as local amateur teams and indeed several other clubs’ youth sections. Below is a list of clubs which had the use of St Mary’s Park recently and Kirkcudbright Academy PE department also have exclusive use throughout the school day”.
Recent users include; Twynholm AFC, Threave Rovers U17s, Dalbeattie Star U15s, Kirkcudbright Bay AFC, Ship Inn AFC, Dalry AFC, Inn AFC, Mid Annandale U15s.
“When you take into consideration that our own youth section is over 90 strong and our teams all train on it once a week, the usage of the ground has gone from maybe 20 people per week to around 250 per week from within our own club discounting users from outside St Cuthbert Wanderers. Add to that the school usage and that of neighbouring clubs, then we are talking to usage of anything up to 450-500 people in a regular term time week. That for a community the size of ours, is fantastic. In conclusion, I’d also like to add that it would be perhaps stating the obvious to say that the club found the SFP excellent to work alongside with the project given we were provided with in excess of £10,000 of funding towards it, but from the beginning when I made contact with Stuart McCaffrey in the first instance, right through to the drawing down of funds, we have found the whole experience has been far from the stressful one which we may have anticipated. The application process is a straightforward one and the help and advice given to the club from Stuart in his capacity as secretary only served to make it easier still and we are extremely appreciative of that help and advice. The SFP really has helped greatly to provide St Cuthbert Wanderers with a platform from which we can hopefully accelerate our journey towards achieving our ultimate aim and for that we are truly thankful”.
Richard Davis
Chairman
St Cuthbert Wanderers Football Club
