Tag: community garden

March 20, 2023March 20, 2023

Easter Holiday Activities are Back!

Shildon AFC CIC is delighted to confirm that our hugely popular Easter Holiday Activites Programme is back and will be held between the 3rd and 6th of April 2023.

Support for this year’s programme has been given by Bishop Auckland and Shildon Area Action Partnership, Livin and the Hays Travel Foundation.

The activities will be held on the Community Garden at Dean Street with coaching sessions run by Shildon AFC Captain, Ben Trotter.

Shildon AFC Chairman, David Dent said: “We are true community football club and this programme enables us to help members of our community but at the same time give the children some structured play and fun. We’ve been doing this programme for some time and our investment in the Community Garden and our separate CIC company now allows us to step up our activities. We are delighted to have secured long term funding from Hays Travel Foundation and also from Livin and the AAP to make the activities FREE to everyone. We look forward to welcoming all children along and we hope they enjoy the week with us”.

The places on the scheme are offered to the children of Livin residents initially and then will be offered for everybody to apply (children must be aged 8-12 years).

Each session will run from 10:00am to 3:00pm and every child will be offered breakfast and lunch with drinks also available. The programme is absolutely free to all the children who are offered a place.

Children should wear appropriate footwear to play football on the all weather surface.

We look forward to welcoming all the children during the Easter holidays.

April 14, 2022April 14, 2022

Community Garden Opening Ceremony & Easter Holiday Activities Awards

A community has celebrated the official opening of a new community garden created on waste land inside the football ground of Shildon AFC.

The ceremony held on Thursday 14th April 2022 was attended by community leaders, funding partners, representatives from the Northern Premier League and Shildon AFC staff.

The Community Garden has been created to provide an all-year round outdoor facility for the local community.

The ribbon was cut by Shildon AFC captain and local lad Ben Trotter.

David Dent, Shildon AFC Chairman said: “This is a special day for myself, my family, and the Club. I came back to Shildon to build a successful football Club and to put something back into the town that I grew up in. Thanks to Buildbase and our partners we now have an asset which the whole community can use and with our new CIC we will extend even further our reach into the local community, making Shildon AFC a true community football club”.

A community interest company (Shildon AFC CIC) has been set up to manage the facility and a Community Development Officer appointed to further integrate the garden into the local community.

Funding for the Garden was made possible by the Club’s successful bid to the Buildbase Community Club Award, which resulted in an award of £25,000. The Club were also successful in achieving funding from the Councillors Neighbourhood Budget (which is administered by the Bishop Auckland and Shildon Area Action Partnership).

Construction of the Community Garden was completed by Westholme Construction.

Children have already been using the Community Garden this week as part of the Easter Holiday Activities scheme which provides sporting activities alongside a healthy breakfast and lunch. Today marked the final day of activities and has once again proved extremely popular. Each child participating was awarded with a medal, t-shirt and Easter Egg, all presented by Shildon AFC Manager Daniel Moore.

The Easter Holiday Activities scheme was funded by Livin, Fun & Food (Durham County Council), Bishop Auckland & Shildon Area Action Partnership, Shildon Alive and the PitchingIn Trident Community Fund.

Special thanks also to Christian Taylor and Ben Trotter who facilitated/coached the activities during the four days of the scheme.

November 12, 2021November 12, 2021

Groundbreaking Ceremony – Shildon AFC Community Garden

An official groundbreaking ceremony was held today (12th November 2021) for the Shildon AFC Community Garden. The garden is being constructed on the waste ground at the Dean Street end of the football ground, with work already underway.

Pictured: (L-R) Mark Jackson (Hirebase Gateshead), Beverley Williams (Buildbase Gateshead), David Dent (Chairman, Shildon AFC), Cllr. Shirley Quinn, Andrew Walker (Bishop Auckland & Shildon AAP), Cllr. Samantha Townsend, Cllr. Matt Johnson, Ashley Wharton (Shildon Alive), Tracy Chappell (Shildon Alive), Trevor Howe (Buildbase Gateshead), Mark Charlton (Trilogy Turf)

The Garden was made possible by the Club’s successful bid to the Buildbase Community Club Award, which resulted in an award of £25,000. The Club were also successful in achieving funding from the Councillors Neighbourhood Budget (which is administered by the Bishop Auckland and Shildon Area Action Partnership (AAP)), which wouldn’t have been possible without the support of Councillors Shirley Quinn, Samantha Townsend and Matt Johnson along with Andrew Walker from the AAP.

Beverley Williams, Branch Manager (Buildbase Gateshead) said “As sponsors of the FA Vase and FA Trophy, Buildbase and Hirebase Gateshead are very proud that this year the busary award will benefit the community and locals as well as the Club and players.”

Andrew Walker, AAP Co-ordinator continued “We are delighted that through Councillors Johnson, Quinn and Townsend we could support Shildon Football Club with this fantastic community project.”

David Dent, Chairman of Shildon AFC thanked everybody involved in helping bring this project to fruition.

“This garden will be a true community asset for the people of Shildon. It wouldn’t have happened without the support of Buildbase and the AAP for which we are extremely grateful. It now provides the Club with a fantastic opportunity to build upon our community work with our partners Shildon Alive and the Solan Connor Fawcett Trust but more so it allows us to have greater reach within our community which we intend to do via our charitable arm, Shildon AFC Foundation, which we intend to launch in the New Year”.

Ashley Wharton from Shildon Alive commented “We are very excited to support this amazing initiative and work in partnership to provide an outdoor space that will not only benefit the wider community of Shildon, but bring all members together and instil pride in their hometown”.

Construction work is being undertaken by Club partner Trilogy Turf with equipment from Hirebase Gateshead and is scheduled to be completed early in the New Year.

November 5, 2021November 5, 2021

Works at Dean Street – Community Garden

We are delighted to announce that works are underway at Dean Street for the construction of our community garden. We are obviously hosting Pontefract Collieries FC on Saturday and would advise those attending the game to be mindful of the works and the fences surrounding them. This has been a popular place for children to play in recent games so could you please ensure that any children are supervised and kept away from this area.

Many thanks and we look forward to seeing you on Saturday.

July 6, 2021July 6, 2021

Planning Application – APPROVED

Shildon AFC are delighted to announce that we have received this morning planning approval from Durham County Council for the construction of a community garden at Dean Street.

The plans include the construction of a community garden including seating areas, pergolas, toilet block, and refreshments hut, providing an exciting open-air facility for the local community.

The Club were successful in bidding for a £25,000 product bursary from Buildbase as part of their Community Club Award programme for the constuction of the gardern. The bursary covers building, electrical and hire materials and the bid was awarded by a panel of judges Buildbase and the FA.