IT’S ALL CHANGE FOR NORTON UNITED AS NEW FACILITIES OPEN

Grassroots sport in Staffordshire has received a major boost following the opening of new changing rooms, funded by the Football Foundation, the country’s largest sports charity.

Joan Walley, MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, attended the opening of Norton United’s the new sports pavilion, which comprises of: changing rooms for home and away teams, officials’ rooms, club rooms, and a medical room.

Also present at the opening was Terry Robinson, Head of Stoke City Academy, who cut the ribbon to officially open the new changing room block before the game between the Stoke City Academy squad and the Norton United Under-14 squad.
The club worked in partnership with the Staffordshire FA to secure a £51,590 grant from the Football Foundation. Funded by the Premier League, The FA, and the Government (via Sport England), the Football Foundation is the country’s largest sports charity. Since it was launched in 2000, the Foundation has awarded around 8,000 grants worth more than £420m towards improving grassroots sport, which it has used to attract additional partnership funding of over £520m.

Steve Beaumont, Chairman of Norton United, said: “Without the help of the Football Foundation this fantastic new building would not have been possible. To see the faces of all our club members when we walked them around was amazing and has made all the hard work worthwhile. This will take our club to another level.”

Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation, said: “I am delighted to see this tremendous new facility complete and ready for use by the local community. The dedication and hard work of Norton United and the Staffordshire FA over a number of years has resulted inthe successful completion of this project.

"None of this would be possible without the crucial cash provided by our funding partners the Premier League, The FA, and the Government – and I am delighted that local MP, Joan Walley, has supported this local project.”