Big day for the Bees to celebrate development

The £800,000 redevelopment of the Harborough Town Community Football Ground will take place tonight when the club will celebrate the completion of their impressive new home.

Laurence Jones, chairman of Harborough Town’s trustees, said: “I’m delighted that that the project has now been fully completed with the addition of the new car park which has transformed the club and everyone connected with the club is delighted with the final outcome.

“This is the culmination of four years of very hard work and I am delighted for the Trustees staff and members of the club who have put in so much time and effort

into ensuring that the club

has a truly outstanding grassroots football facility which will be a real community asset.

“The official opening at 5pm will provide the club with a chance to showcase the ground to the organisations who have played a critical role in turning what was a vision into reality.

“To mark the occasion

the first team will be playing an FA Representative X1 in a game that will kick off at 7.45pm.

“It will be a great honour for the club to host an FA Representative XI which will be managed by Paul Fairclough who is the manager of the England C Team.

“We hope that the fixture will capture local interest and people turn out to watch the game.”

Jones also placed on record his gratitude to all those who have made the development possible – from the volunteers to those who have provided funding.

He added: “I would like to pay tribute to the trustees, volunteers and employees of the club, they have been amazing.

“The hours of dedication and commitment shown by what is a very small group of people in not just delivering this project but the overall transformation of the club over the last four seasons is nothing short of remarkable.

“With 11 grass pitches and two artificial pitches Harborough Town has some of the finest grassroots football facilities in the country, which is something the local community should be very proud of.

“The trustees would like to place on record our huge thanks and appreciation to the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund delivered through the Football Foundation, Harborough District Council and Leicestershire & Rutland County FA who have come together and worked with the club to turn our vision of creating a football hub that will benefit the community of Market Harborough into reality.”

The project funding is made up of £436,123 from the Premier League & FA Facilities Fund delivered by the Football Foundation, £70,427 from Premier League through the Football Stadia Improvement Fund and £270,000 secured by Harborough District Council from section 106 agreements where the authority obtained funds from developers for community use.

The club also invested £50,000 of its own funds.

FA chief studies town’s ‘model’ football club – see page five