Premier League stars open new community football club facilities

Two Premier League brothers opened a Bromsgrove District community football club’s new £380,000 facilities last weekend - five years after the club faced closure.

Midlands-based Premier League midfielders Gary and Craig Gardner opened Meadow Park Football Club’s new changing rooms and car park at the Harris Brush factory football pitches in Stoke Prior on Saturday June 30. The facilities were built following a major fundraising campaign, including a £50,000 contribution from Bromsgrove District Council, after Meadow Park was faced with closure in 2007.

At the time, safety incidents forced hosts Harris to insist that without separating the football club from the factory’s working areas, including a separate car park, entrance, and changing facilities, they would no longer be able to allow the club to use the pitches. The club needed to raise £250,000 to be able to make the required upgrades.

After securing £200,000 of that amount from various funding bodies, in 2009 Bromsgrove District Council made a one-off partnership contribution of £50,000 after a report to the authority’s cabinet laid out the consequences to the community and local sports provision if the club was lost.

Bromsgrove District Council’s portfolio holder for community services Cllr Michael Webb said: “The council were presented with solid evidence of the value of this club to the community as well as the support it provided towards our goals in terms of sports provision across the district.

“It was clear that the loss of this club would be a real blow not only to the 300+ members across various age groups, but also to the wider community. Meadow Park is well known to be an excellent club, especially for young people, and yet through some truly unfortunate circumstances it found itself between a rock and a hard place.

“It’s a real pleasure to now see the facilities up and running, and we hope that they are able to keep this first rate community football club going for another sixty years. Meadow Park chairman Paul Hutchins deserves immense credit for his perseverance.”