|
Statement from Eastbourne Borough Football Club
The susceptibility of the Priory Lane pitch to poor weather has been well documented over the past 2 seasons. All within the club have been aware of the need for remedial work for a number of years and approaches to various bodies for grant assistance has been progressed. With the ever increasing success of Eastbourne Borough Youth Football Club in attracting boys and girls of all ages coinciding with the continued success of the Eastbourne Borough senior squad under Garry Wilson and Nick Greenwood it became apparent that major work within the Priory Lane grounds would be required to provide new and improve existing playing surfaces for all our teams.
Grant aid was finally confirmed in July 2007 and work has continued since then to provide the matched funding required to finance all work. With this achieved the necessary contractor needed to be sought and engaged that could commit to completing all tasks within the short window that any close season allows for major disruption to a senior football clubs pitch. This was achieved earlier this week and the club are now pleased to confirm that work on the stadium pitch will commence immediately after the teams final home game of the season. In short the stadium will receive new drainage and existing drains will receive remedial attention, the surface will be stripped and a new playing surface provided with a high sand content and a profile aimed at both maximising the drainage and contributing to the excellent and attractive football exhibited by the clubs representative sides. These works will provide a pitch with increased drainage thus reducing postponements, will require less manual maintenance, and will be able to meet the demands of a club the size of Eastbourne Borough FC. This is in addition to the work outlined in the joint statement with Eastbourne Borough Youth Football Club with regard to the the creation of further pitches at Priory Lane which follows below.
These activities are all part of the clubs plan to continue to develop it's presence within and the services it provides to the community at a pace that is sustainable and to a budget that is affordable within the existing and proposed club structure. No one at Priory Lane rests on the laurels of current success or position and plans are currently being formulated for further development of the club.
Joint Statement from Eastbourne Borough Football Club and Eastbourne Borough Youth Football Club.
Following several months of planning and protracted grant negotiations with various bodies Eastbourne Borough Football Club and Eastbourne Borough Youth football Club are pleased to announce that work will begin in the Spring to further develop Priory Lane with the specific aim of providing further football pitches on the site.
Works will drain, level and develop an area within the grounds to provide a number of junior and/or senior sized pitches behind the stadium main stand for use buy a wide range of age groups. This will allow Eastbourne Borough Youth Football Club to provide facilities for several teams within the Priory Lane grounds that currently play elsewhere within the town. It is hoped this will continue to strengthening the ties between the Youth and Senior sections and provide wider community involvement on the site. It is currently planned that the pitches will be available for use for the 2008/2009 season and provide a platform for both boys and girls to progress through the club, playing to the best of their abilities and maybe one day represent the club on the adjacent stadium pitch.
|
