Non-league club hail the success of community festival

Glasgow Times

2 days ago

The Lilywhites hosted the inaugural CITYFEST at Sawston's FWD/IP Community Stadium in June after receiving vital grant funding from Pitching In's Trident Community Foundation to help get the project off the ground.
The five-day extravaganza featured a 5-a-side football competition, live music, a bingo night, a quiz night and a beer festival, amongst other events, and was devised with the goal of helping bring families and businesses together during the summer.
The club's general manager Alice Dewey said: 'It was a brilliant event. Lots of people enjoyed it, there was lots of success and fundraising. Now our plan is to make it an annual event and make it bigger and better each year.
The bingo night held at the festival (Image: Alice Dewey)'We all decided we wanted to utilise the new stadium during the close season, [so the festival] was an opportunity to get the stadium on the map for those that live locally and that hadn't been to the stadium.
"We wanted to show them what great facilities we've got here and the potential for them to expand and grow.'
The Trident Community Foundation offers grants of between £1000-£5000 to clubs at Step 3 and 4 of the non-league pyramid to start or expand community projects.
Since its formation in 2020, more than £500,000 has been handed out to clubs, with beneficiaries using the money to support all kinds of projects such as walking football, disability football, and women's and girls' football programmes.
Dewey, who has been in her current role for four years, explained the money from the fund was used to help cover the costs of things such as the marquee, beers for the festival, the stage and marketing the event.
On the importance of the funding, Dewey continued: 'It was a huge help. We didn't have a budget to start with, so it got us on the road and made it a bit easier to raise further money as part of the event. All these events cost money to set up, so it was very helpful.'
Though she now works for Cambridge City in a paid role, Dewey was once one of countless volunteers who play vital roles at non-league clubs throughout the UK, with opportunities to get involved now available through the Pitching In Volunteer Hub.
Through entering their postcode, individuals can locate volunteering opportunities at nearby clubs and discover more details about which roles are available.
'You can never have enough volunteers, they're all so important,' said Dewey. 'Some volunteers will work tirelessly and do whatever you ask them, and some volunteers come in and will do a particular job which is also brilliant, you can do as much as you want. We're always looking for more.'
On the pitch, City will be looking to build on last season's 11th-place finish and will be again campaigning in the Pitching In Isthmian League North Division.
'Everything [on the pitch] is going in the right direction,' added Dewey. 'We had a brilliant atmosphere against Cambridge United in a pre-season friendly and we look forward to more games like that as we start to climb back up the football pyramid.'
Find volunteering opportunities near you at https://pitchinginvolunteers.co.uk/