Shadow Chancellor and MP for Tatton George Osborne accepted an invitation to visit the Alderley Edge Athletic Junior Football Club on Thursday 17th December to meet with Vice Chairman Jonathan Rowley who is concerned about funding for the renovation of their pavilion.
George Osborne was shown the facilities in freezing temperatures and walked the pitch whilst Jonathan Rowley shared the issues he has experienced with local politics and the funding approaches made to date.
Having spent the past 9 months campaigning for funding to improve facilities for the Chorley Hall Lane based club, known as The Squirrels, Jonathan had become frustrated with the lack of progress so he wrote to George Osborne in the hope that he would lend his support and “shake things up”.
Also present at the meeting was Robert Bacon, Head of Facilities for Cheshire East, Club Manager Mike Nolan and Cheshire FA representative Simon Gerard.
Commenting on his visit George Osborne said "It was great to visit the home of the Alderley Athletic Junior Football Club which has around 60 children registered to play regular competitive league football. By bringing all parties together for this meeting it is hoped that the renovation work can now be completed."
The Squirrels’ application for funding was turned down twice this year by the Alderley Institute Trust, a fund set up in 2002 to aid community projects, with £630,000 from the sale of St Philip’s Institute. Undeterred the club have worked tirelessly to generate private support and carry out work themselves.
A lot of individuals and companies have come forward to help with the project over the summer; Keith Doyle did all the electrical work, Wilmslow Glass provided brand new double glazing for the pavilion and Bearhunt, FK Roofing Services, The Football Foundation and Deutsche Bank have all contributed with team sponsorship.
In the region of £15,000 has been spent so far but in order to finish the project a further £15-20,000 is required. Jonathan has spent 6 months chasing £4000 which was allocated in 2003 in the form of a 106 fund and explained that “when I enquired about the delay and whether it was the result of local resident’s objections I was informed that the Parish Council were questioning the legality of East Cheshire giving us the lease in the first place.”
Jonathan added “We’ve been chasing money whilst trying to gain more access to and improve the conditions of the field whilst they have been playing politics behind the scenes."
"We are grateful to George for taking the time to visit our club, he has offered to support our efforts and help unblock a variety of issues. His involvement has already definitely started to oil the wheels of local authority progress, in fact so much so that I have been invited for a meeting in the new year at the Town Hall in Macclesfield - we've got some way to go but we're moving in the right direction.”
The Squirrels are hoping to expand from 6 to 10 teams next season and are always delighted to hear from potential sponsors. Jonathan Rowley can be contacted via 07817390072 or [email protected].
Comments
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The objectives of the Trust are “The promotion of such charitable purposes for the inhabitants of Alderley Edge, Nether Alderley, Over Alderley, Chorley and Great Warford all in the County of Cheshire as the Trustees shall think fit."
Grants awarded in 2008 were:
1) £50,191 for the Scout Hut.
2) £14,500 for alterations and refurbishments of the Alderley Edge Pre-School Playgroup which is based within the Community Primary School. Only part of these funds were drawn in 2008.
3) £800 for a new kit and towards the cost of pitch hire for Alderley Athletic Junior Football Club.
4) £20,000 was granted to Groundwork Cheshire towards the redevelopment of the Beech Road Playing Fields - the funds were required in the early part of 2009.
5) £50,000 grant and a loan of £25,000 was agreed for the refurbishment of the Over Alderley Reading Room.
6) £2000 towards roof repairs of Alderley Edge Methodist Church.
7) £2000 for a local student towards a post grad course in embryology.
8) £9,275 for an “outdoor classroom” at The David Lewis Centre. The money wasn’t drawn in 2008.
Not all of the above grants were actually given out in 2008 - the total ammount distributed in grants for the year was £107,269.
However, having started the year with £931,128 the Trust ended 2008 with a balance of only £609,150 due to their investments on the stock market losing in the region of £200,000.
To read the The Alderley Edge Institute Trust Report and Financial Statements for 2008 visit http://bit.ly/4CVQit
Monies appear to have been allocated to some very worthy causes, although I am confused as to how the local commmunity benefits from the £2,000 awarded to a student in order to further his/her research into embryology, but let's hope that one day mankind in general will enjoy the fruits of this research.
Happy New Year to you, and all your website users.
Kriss Coombes
Back in June 2009 I made these comments in the local press:
"Chairman of Alderley Athletic Junior Football Club, Jonathan Rowley, who received £800 from the trust for new kit but whose application for £50,000 to revamp the club’s pavilion at Chorley Hall Lane was rejected, said he is left wondering why he and "The Squirrels" didn’t get a bigger bite of the cherry.
Earlier this year there was a row as Jonathan claimed trustees "got personal" with him over his re-application. He was told they only gave money to "nice people".
He said this week: "After seeing who was given grants, I can’t understand why we were rejected."
Jonathan was told to make clear how his project would benefit the wider community.
Citing the grant made to "a student", Jonathan added: "I fail to see how a donation to an individual can be reconciled with the Trust’s stated aim. The Trust’s decision-making process and committee are flawed. Who will benefit from the donation to Over Alderley Reading Room and how does that compare to something that benefits the young sportsmen in our village? We want to develop Chorley Hall Lane fields to support other sports. The trustees are out of touch and should be overturned with forward-thinking people."
That said with Georges support we are gearing up for a re-application to the Trust for funding in 2010 so watch out Trust here we come again!