Grassroots Derbyshire football club on fundraising mission to refurbish rundown sports facility

New Tupton Ivanhoe FC are raising funds for a £15,000 redevelopment of the village’s derelict multi-use games arena, next to the scout hut.

Dave Hoult, club secretary, said they would need to invest in a range of repairs to get the arena back into working condition.

“The actual building next to the pitch used to be a youth centre back in the day, when I was a kid. It’s been various other things, and it has been left dormant for a while. As with most villages, there’s not much around for kids at the minute compared to what we used to have when I was young.

“I made some enquiries with the parish council, and they said that North East Derbyshire District Council want rid of it.

“We did some groundwork – it needs relaying with some artificial grass, the fencing and gates need doing, as well as the cameras and lights. We priced it up and it’s in the region of £20,000 we need to raise, and the council have put £5000 in.”

Dave said that once the money was raised, it would take around two months to complete the work, but once finished, it would provide a safe sporting facility for the children in the village.

“If we can get that running, we’ve got over 300 kids in the club that will benefit. We can use it for winter training, if it’s floodlit we can get a five-a-side league going.

“The price of renting 3G pitches between September and March is horrendous – if we can get this site, we can put that money back into the club instead, and we can improve the facilities we’ve got.

“It’s somewhere to go – it’ll give kids a safe, contained place to meet and play sports. You don’t know what’s going through kids’ heads at the minute with the two years we’ve just had, so it’s a place for them to come if they have problems with their physical or mental health.

“It’d be great to be able to give something back to the kids, not just those that play football. It can be a community centre too – it’s not just about New Tupton Ivanhoe FC.”

The club are working with the community to help raise the money they need, and will be the main beneficiaries of the Britannia pub’s ‘Brit Fest’ in July.

One of the New Tupton coaches, who had a leg amputated three months ago, is climbing Snowdon next week – he is raising money for the centre that cared for him, but is also hoping to make a contribution towards the club’s efforts.

The fundraiser can be found here.

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