Report of Shenstone Playing Fields Committee Work
Date: 12.4.24
The PFC had a big change in committee members at the AGM in June 2023 of people who were motivated and wanted to make improvements to the Playing Fields for the benefit of the community, in particular to improve the children’s play area.
Over the last 9 months, our new members have been getting to grips with issues that the we inherited from the previous committee. We are working through these very complex issues and they are taking up a lot of time and money. This has meant that less time has been able to be spent on other areas, however, we have still made some very significant improvements to the playing fields which I would like to share with you below:
- We have been granted 6 years of funding from the FA in order to improve the football pitch/maintain the pitch to a higher standard
- We were successful in obtaining funding to install new LED floodlights on the training pitch, meaning that the training pitch could be used all year round by the youth groups that train there and we could secure further income for the Playing Fields.
- We are currently in the process of getting a new 4m high net fence erected along the edge of the Birmingham Road for safety. The hedges have huge gaps in them and not only is it a risk for children to escape onto the main road, it also means that the teams playing on the training pitch are limited in what they can do as the risk of a ball being kicked out onto the main road and causing an accident is high. We have received 50% funding for this and the rest we will fund ourselves.
- Once the net fence has been installed, we will be installing permanent secure goal posts on the training pitch so that it can be hired for 5-a-side youth team matches. It can also be enjoyed by the village community for football games. The funding for the goal posts has already been received and they will be installed once the fence is up.
- We have secured 6 football teams who will play next season on the main pitch (mainly kids teams) which is key to bringing a regular income into the PFC in order to make other improvements and for maintenance work across the site.
- We have introduced a Kids Football Holiday Camp and 1-1 kids Football training 2 days a week which has been very well received by the children in the village and parents who need childcare in the school holidays.
- We are working on a plan for a brand-new children’s park for the community, we are still trying to get costs down and plans are likely to be going back into Playdale for re-working. It is a slow process but as we progress, we will keep you updated.
- We held a successful fundraising comedy night last year and this year we are hosting the Shenstone 10k Fun Run which will be a great event for the village and local community and will help to raise funds for the new play area.
- All procedures, finance, reporting and management of the charity has been overhauled to that of a high standard, our income has increased a huge amount and we are in a position where the charity can now operate efficiently going forward.
We would like to thank the Parish Council for their support with funding which has enabled some of these projects to go ahead. Also, a big thank you to Shirley who is always super helpful with any queries we have and the lengthsman who has assisted with maintenance issues very efficiently for us.