Henry Smith MP has joined Crawley Town Community Foundation staff, BTEC students, and club first team players and management at the launch of the relaid 3G pitch at the Community Ball Court at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

Henry said;

“I was delighted to hear from Birtug that the Crawley Town Community Foundation had been awarded £42,000 of Biffa Award funding.

“This will help the Foundation continue to grow their successful community programmes, including COGs (Crawley Old Girls) who are soon to be featured on Sky Sports, and Capers, run in conjunction with Autism Sussex.

“The new 3G pitch is a fantastic surface and I’m sure it’ll lead to further participation in Community Foundation projects. Having listened to some of the students at today’s launch it’s clear how much of an improvement this new pitch is.”

Birtug Kazim, Manager of the Crawley Town Community Foundation, commented;

“We’re delighted to be able to upgrade our Community Ball Court from a 2G to a 3G thanks to Biffa Award funding.

“For the past year we have steadily increased the activity we deliver on the ball court, but whenever we have some rain or adverse weather conditions we have had to call off our sessions.

“With the all-weather 3G surface, we will not only be able to play through the rain but also increase the range of programmes we deliver on the Community Ball Court to go with such projects as for our BTEC Scholars, Capers, Crawley Old Girls, and Fit Fans.”

“For any enquiries, you can call 01293 410000 (option 4) or email [email protected].”

The £42,315.72 grant is from Biffa Award, a multi-million pound fund that helps to build communities and transform lives through awarding grants to community and environmental projects across the UK as part of the Landfill Communities Fund, and was used to upgrade the Community Ball Court from a 2G to a 3G surface at the Checkatrade.com Stadium.

Mark Yates, Manager of Crawley Town FC, commented;

“It’s a fantastic surface and great opportunity for the local community to make use of more quality playing facilities in the town.”

Henry recently attended the launch and graduation ceremony of the Community Foundation’s Autumn 2015 NCS programme, and is looking forward to supporting next year’s Spring programme.

Henry said;

“It was great to meet the young people who successfully completed the NCS scheme at their graduation ceremony.

“Their social action work is a testament to our community and I’m pleased to see that Crawley Town captain Sonny Bradley and midfielder Simon Walton are backing the scheme.”

Birtug added;

“After a very successful Autumn NCS programme, Crawley Town Community Foundation is now recruiting for the Spring NCS programme starting on 28th March 2016.

“Don’t miss out on your once in a lifetime opportunity, sign up today by calling 01233 600 142 or email [email protected].

“See the Autumn Graduates in action here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSJWD89BBxM.”