There’s been an active football club in the Essex village of Stebbing for over a hundred years. The team has played on various grounds around the village but has, in latter years, played on the Alcott Playing Field, which is owned by the local parish council. Today there is also an extremely successful youth club – the Flitch Youth Football Club.
In 2002, the portacabin which the teams used as changing rooms was condemned as unfit for purpose by the league, due to the fact it had no electricity, water or toilets. The Stebbing Football Club began to raise money for new facilities. Valencia Communities Fund awarded this new scheme over £16,000 of the total needed to complete the entire project. Together with funds from the Football Foundation, the money went towards providing proper changing facilities in two specially designed new portacabins.
Today there are now changing rooms, showers, disabled facilities, and a storage area with a place to make tea and coffee. Linda White, clerk to Stebbing Parish Council, says the new facilities are being used and appreciated: "The changing rooms were ready in time for the beginning of the football season in 2010.
The financial help given to us by Valencia Communities Fund was just tremendous and should allow Stebbing Football Club and Flitch Youth Football Club to really develop across all age groups. It's taken a long time to complete this project; constantly changing legislation meant we had to put in three different planning applications. Thanks to the generous support of Valencia Communities Fund, we now have facilities to be proud of."
