Sir Trevor Brooking Launches All Weather Pitch at St. Mary’s

Tue 24th May 2011 | Football Stadiums & Facilities

Sir Trevor Brooking, Director of Development for the FA, has officially opened a new state of the art floodlit synthetic turf pitch at St. Mary’s School in Menston, West Yorkshire.

The new sports pitch, designed and constructed by Smith Construction (Heckington) Ltd. forms part of a £750,000 investment in sport at the school.  The natural grass pitches are also being upgraded to a high standard.

Players from the school, local community and football clubs; Guiseley Juniors FC, Menston Juniors FC and Burley Trojans FC, will benefit from the all-weather surface.  The 3G surface is a long pile football turf with cushioned rubber granulate infill giving superb player performance and characteristics replicating natural grass.  Developed and manufactured by Limonta Sport, it is tested to meet FIFA 1* regulations.

Kaiser Chiefs’ Peanut Baines and Nick Hodgson joined fellow ex students for a game on the new turf.  They included Professional Footballers: Aiden White, Niall Canavan, Tom Taiwo, Luke Hendrie and Jordon Sinnott.  Professional Cricketer: David Wigley and ex Professional Footballer and now Broadcaster: John Hendrie.

The project was part funded with the help of a £325,000 grant from the Football Foundation.  Funded by the Premier League, the FA and the Government via Sport England, the Football Foundation is the nation’s largest sports charity.

Paul Thorogood, Chief Executive of the Football Foundation said, “We are delighted that St.Mary’s and the local community will have access to these fantastic new facilities and commend the school and the County FA for all their hard work in making this happen”.

For the School’s Assistant Headteacher, David Geldart, the fruition of the project is a dream come true after campaigning for the facility at St. Mary’s for more than 10 years.

Following a reception and speeches in the school’s Main Hall, guests were invited to gather at the pitch for a blessing by Father O’Connor and the facility was formally opened by Sir Trevor Brooking CBE.  Coaching displays by school staff and local players completed an excellent launch event.

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