Hartley Wintney Junior FC Scores with “Grass Roots” Funding Success

There’s good news for Hartley Wintney as the junior football club has been awarded an Enhanced Grass Pitch Maintenance grant from the Premier League, The FA and the Government’s Football Foundation. The Grant – in excess of £30k - will be released over a six year period; the junior club will also need to make contributions to the pitch works in years 3 to 6. The purpose of the grant is to ensure clubs like Hartley Wintney can invest in the improvement of existing grass pitches for the benefit of the children in their community.
 
​Hartley Wintney Junior Football Club is a community club run by volunteers. We strive to be an all-inclusive, mixed ability, junior football club for boys and girls promoting grass roots football from u6 to U18 and currently have 27 teams. The funding will enable the junior club to improve the football pitches at Greenfields School with deep spike verti-draining and fertilisation being the immediate priority.

After a formal tender process, Hartley Wintney Junior FC is pleased to announce its preferred partners to carry out this work are Winchfield Landscape Services Ltd and Southern Ground Care Ltd. Winchfield Landscapes will be responsible for the over-seeding, fertilising, weed-killing, and repair of the Greenfields pitches. Southern Ground Care will provide verti-draining and the first grass treatment to address the years of compaction to the ground. The aim is to improve drainage and allow more air spaces for roots to develop and for rainfall to pass through quicker.

Lee Wales, Vice-Chair and Pitch Manager, HWJFC said  “As a club, we are committed to providing the best possible facilities for youth football; we have been planning ground improvement works for almost a year now. Despite having to temporarily postpone these back in March, we're extremely pleased that we can now proceed with this important investment, which will benefit the community as well as the football club. The committee is very grateful for the guidance and support we received from Hampshire FA, as well as the Football Foundation. Without them and our fantastic volunteers at the club, this essential work to protect and enhance the grass at Greenfields School would not have been possible. We are also indebted to Sue Tadman, Executive Head at Green Oaks Federation, for her support and partnership in allowing us to provide children's football in the school grounds. We look forward to growing this partnership for many years to come."
 
Robert Sullivan, Interim Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said “This is a vital grant to help Hartley Wintney Junior FC get their pitches match-fit and will help the club improve grassroots sport in the area.”

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For more information please contact: Suzanne Swan CWO and Grant Officer, Hartley Wintney Junior FC.

Winchfield Landscape Services Ltd has extensive experience of football pitch ground maintenance and clients include Hampshire County Council, Parish Councils and local football clubs. They currently maintain over 21 football pitches.
 
Southern Ground Care Ltd provides grounds services for all types of sports facilities: football, rugby, cricket pitches, lacrosse and bowling greens. Clients include some of the top clubs in the Premier, Southern Electric Premier, Thames Valley, Hampshire Cricket Leagues as well as Hartley Wintney FC and Hartley Wintney Cricket Club. https://www.southerngroundcare.co.uk/www.southerngroundcare.co.uk/
 
The Football Foundation is a charity funded by the Premier League, The FA and the Government, through Sport England. The Premier League, The FA and Government’s Football Foundation is the largest sports charity in the UK.  It champions and supports fair access to quality football facilities for everyone, regardless of postcode, gender, race, disability or place.
https://footballfoundation.org.uk/ ​
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/FootballFoundation1/
Twitter @FootballFoundtn

Hampshire FA
https://www.hampshirefa.com/
Twitter @HampshireFA
Facebook https://www.facebook.com/HampshireFA/

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