Target reached!
We will use any extra money to upgrade on social club furniture.
Training Pitch & Social Club Toilet Refurbishment
Harwich, England, United Kingdom
Aim
New training/youth pitch for all teams to use. Refurb of toilets in Social Club. Allowing the club to grow as a community.
Who we are
Harwich & Parkston FC has seen a big loss in income because of the Covid-19 pandemic. All income from match days, the social club and general sponsorship goes back into the club, and everything we do is for the local community of Harwich.
The club exists because of the support of the people of Harwich, which has continued for over a 125 years. With the valued support of the community and friends of the club we have already made great strides in improving the match day experience for fans and players. We appreciate that times are hard for many so a any contribution of any size is very much valued by the club and will ensure that the club continues to serve the community in a safe and modern environment for another 125 years and more.
What we want to do.
During the summer of 2020, we were looking to do vital repairs around the ground and
in the social club. Covid-19 has stopped most of our plans. However, thanks to the support of our fans, the donate-a-seat campaign has meant that we have been able to carry out renovation work on the main stand which we hope to be finished very soon
As a club we also had plans to refurbish the toilets in the social club, something that has been needed for a long time and give the function room a lick of paint and some new tables. Additionally, we are looking to turn the area by the tea hut into a 5-a-side grass pitch that can be used by all of our teams. Having a training pitch will allow us to offer night training for youth sides, walking football and save the club money on hiring facilities, and allow the main pitch to be protected.
Why are we doing this?
Harwich and Parkeston Football Club are in need of a training area urgently to help develop an area within the Royal Oak ground to facilitate the future development of the youth of the town . Harwich and Parkeston FC amalgamated with Dovercourt Vipers Youth four years ago. With teams progressing from under 8 up to under 17 this season , the playing area of the ground has shown it cannot sustain the demands of so much utilisation and in particular training requirements . We only have one playing pitch at the Royal Oak ! However a solution is readily available. An area of 1,000 square metres has been identified adjacent to the dressing rooms that if developed and turfed could provide floodlight training areas and would even be large enough to accommodate the younger teams playing matches on it. Furthermore the area would provide an area where senior teams could do their pre- match “ warm ups “ to preserve the one main pitch the Club owns which lost a lot of matches last season on being declared unfit. Warm ups are no longer a few minutes. Teams of all age groups up to seniors spend anything up to 45 minutes pre match and a single pitch cannot stand that amount of workload especially if wet. This development would clearly make a vast difference to pitch preservation. It would enable the youth teams to move location for training necessities to the Royal Oak which is completely enclosed and secure instead of working on open playing field and restriction on time availability and a facility that can be used on the darker nights due to floodlight availability if necessary. Harwich and Parkeston is regarded as the Town club . It proudly displays the Town crest on all its shirts and apparel . There are no other youth football clubs in the towns of Harwich , Dovercourt and Parkeston.
This development would provide a safe , functional facility for everyone taking massive pressure off the main playing arena that just cannot handle the usage. We recently have self funded ( with donations from supporters helping) a total refurbishment of our main stand now providing 230 covered seats in our main stand .
The development of a training area would go a long way to securing the future of the Club. Our financial situation over the last 20 years has been perilous . 20 years ago was £ £90,000 in debt. To preserve its existence the Club was forced to drop out of senior football and even dropped to the realms of local junior football. Over many many years of hard and patient work the Committee have made the Club “ viable” again and two years ago rejoined the newly created Thurlow Nunn Division One South. It generated a Reserve team from the youth sectors of the newly amalgamated Dovercourt Vipers partnership .
Harwich A Community Club
This is the Community Club for the Borough . The Club tried to generate this training facility itself six months ago. Volunteers worked trying to clear the area of three foot plus weeds, brambles bushes and stinging nettles in the hope finances could be found to level and turf the area for utilisation. Despite all the hard work the Covid situation put paid to all that happening. Not only did the unwanted growths return rapidly as no one was allowed to prevent it but the Club was forced to close in its entirety so despite having ongoing expenses we were unable to generate any income whatsoever. We promote this Club as Harwich and Dovercourt Community facility. It is used not only for soccer at all ages ( and sexes as we have girls in our younger teams!) but the ground is used for a multitude of other uses. We have over the years allowed free use of any of our facilities if for Charity , illness support , etc and have staged fetes , car boots, wrestling , boot camps ( fitness) music concerts , bingo for pensioners , Charity matches and until they folded even a ladies team and a disabled team . We are now being approached by local organisations like Harwich Sing to discuss the possibility of an open air choir concert for Charity and even today the local boxing club contacted us wanting to discuss an open air boxing event. ( more usage of playing area!) This illustrates how much the facilities at Harwich and Parkeston are regarded in our Town . They are always available to help everybody. The Club is definitely on the first steps to achieving the levels and reputation it enjoyed pre year 2000. We do not pay our players for playing. We are not in a financial position to consider it. All monies generated are directed to sustaining Harwich and Parkeston FC ( founded 1877) future and creating facilities the next generation of the people of Harwich and Dovercourt can enjoy ! A helping hand in funding would enable this Club to secure a future for everyone
This project successfully funded on 19th July 2020