FROME Town Football Club is planning a new 250-seat stand for their ground in Badgers Hill. But it needs the help of local people to fund the project – which is necessary to keep them in the Southern Premier Division.
Following their promotion from Division 1 of the South & West League to the Southern Premier Division, the club needs to improve the seating provision of the ground to reach the FA’s requirements for the league. The plans are for 250 covered seats at the east end of the football pitch, with the overall length of the stand covering some 33 metres.
Ian Pearce, club secretary explained, “The reason for the new stand is part of the FA’s ground grading requirement. Because we’ve been promoted, we have to make sure our ground is at a minimum level that the FA set. This is really important – if we don’t get the seating we’ll be relegated. It’s one of those horrible situations – even if you won the league you could be still be relegated.”
Ian hopes that it is just the stand that the club requires. “There shouldn’t really be anything else in the requirements, just cosmetic aspects,” he explained. “We’ve got all the other bits in place, we now just need to look at funding the stand.”
Appeal for funds
The club needs around £20,000 to cover the cost of the new stand, and has already started an appeal to raise the funds.
Ian said, “Everything has to be in place and completed by the 31st March. We’ve got an appeal that’s been going on for a little while, asking people to donate to the project, but we could do with more people and more donations and help from local businesses – we need to hit towards £20,000 to get everything complete. We’ve done bits and pieces of fundraising and there are more lined up. We know it’s difficult for everyone but we could do with the help!”
If you can help the grandstand appeal, contact Ian on 07811 511 222 or
ian@frometownfc.co.uk
