Member Article

Barton Rovers and Stowmarket Town win in Buildbase £100k Transfer Deal

Barton Rovers and Stowmarket Town have both been awarded £25,000 worth of building materials to improve their facilities after taking part in the Buildbase £100k Transfer Deal 2019

The renovation programme is a national competition open to clubs playing in the Buildbase FA Trophy or Buildbase FA Vase.

Barton Rovers, which has been competing in the Buildbase FA Trophy, and Stowmarket Town, which has been competing in the Buildbase FA Vase, successfully pitched their projects against four other finalists at an event held at Wembley Stadium connected by EE in December.

The £25,000 product bursary includes building, electrical and hire products, which will be provided by local Buildbase branches working with the clubs.

Aisling Kenny, HR Director at Buildbase said: “This programme is a real opportunity for us to give something back to grassroots football. We’re giving away much more than building materials, we’re providing clubs like Barton Rovers and Stowmarket Town with the opportunity to grow and develop in the future. We look forward to seeing how their projects progress over the coming months.”

Buildbase and FA judges selected Barton Rovers because of the significant benefits of the project to the whole community. The club plans to extend its clubhouse to include disabled toilets, a female changing area and refreshment facilities for spectators. The project will also see access to the club improved through leveling and creation of a retractable safety tunnel for the players’ entrance.

Barton Rovers representatives Darren Whiley, Anthony Fontenelle and Pat Howarth pitched the project. “We’re the same as any other club playing at grassroots non-league level, to be given grants for anything is huge” said Darren.

The judges praised joint winners Stowmarket Town for having a clear long-term vision and ambition. Materials will be used to build a new West stand to attract more people into the club. The resulting increased turnover will fund community projects for its all weather multi-use games area.

Stowmarket Town representatives John Griffin and Ricky Andrews pitched the project. “Programmes like this are a real lifeline for grassroots football. There are so many housing developments around that the green land disappears, so if we can get things like this it helps us to give the kids somewhere to play football and other sports. We want to benefit the whole community,” said John.

Buildbase has awarded £400,000 worth of building materials to improve non-league football club facilities since it became the title sponsor of the FA Trophy and Vase in 2016. Previous winners include Hanwell Town, Cleethorpes Town, Cheadle Town, Needham Market, AFC Darwen and Tadcaster Albion AFC.

The next Buildbase £100k Transfer Deal will open for applications in late January 2020. Updates can be found by following @BuildbaseUK on Twitter #Buildbase100KDeal.

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Buildbase .