Bathgate Thistle : Community Football Club going from strength to strength

Bathgate Thistle CFC youth section are celebrating another successful year!

With almost 500 members (and growing), the club has made great progress throughout the 2018/19 season, and with the support of a newly appointed executive committee and with more volunteers than ever, are looking forward to a bright future.

As a newly accredited club within West Lothian Councils Active Assured accreditation scheme, Bathgate Thistle have partnered with the West Lothian Youth Foundation and successfully launched their own Sunday Soccer Centre and Joelle Murray Soccer Centres earlier this year. Both sessions run at Xcite Bathgate on Sundays and provide a positive environment for players aged 5-12 of all abilities to get involved in playing football and to develop their existing skills. Feedback from the participants has been amazing and as a direct result of these initiatives, Bathgate have grown their club by a further 70 members in the last six months alone and welcomed twelve new adult volunteers who have played a key part in launching their new sections for children born in 2012 and 2013 and have plans in place to begin their 2014 group after the 2019 summer holidays.

For any new members looking to attend the Soccer Centre or Joelle Murray Soccer Centre, they will again be offering free taster sessions to all new participants aged 5-12 when we start back on Sunday 18 August 2019 after which it will cost £1 per week to participate. Keep an eye on their Bathgate Thistle Community Football Club page for more information or updates.

For any new members looking to attend the Soccer Centre or Joelle Murray Soccer Centre, they will again be offering free taster sessions to all new participants aged 5-12 when we start back on Sunday 18 August 2019 after which it will cost £1 per week to participate. Keep an eye on their Bathgate Thistle Community Football Club page for more information or updates.

For the first time in its history, the club are delighted to have launched its girls section fully affiliated with Scottish Women’s Football, starting with their Under 9 section. This has been so successful that the club already have plans in place to expand and after the summer will be looking to develop and grow their girls section pathway with a new under 12 section.

As a charity, the club rely almost entirely on the generosity and support of the local community. Each of our 26 teams work tirelessly fund raising to provide kit, equipment and to fund training facilities and the support of local business and the local community has once again this year been fantastic. This is an ongoing concern for many of our teams and we would therefore would like to thank each and every one of our sponsors that support our teams ensuring they can continue to provide a safe and fun environment for children aged between 5 and 17 to develop and grow as football players and individuals.

We have been extremely lucky this year securing funding from Edinburgh Airport which has paid for some larger equipment purchased purchases including 9 a-side goals, and sponsorship from SiBcas who provided a much needed storage facility for these goals. Visitors to our main facility at Xcite Bathgate will have noticed that we recently installed signage, helping to identify the facility as our main venue and further build our relationships with the local community – a huge thanks to Derrick and the team at 1st Choice Living who sponsored and installed this signage for us.

Article published in Konect August 2019

Author: Paul Marr, Vice Chairman, Bathgate Bathgate Thistle CFC

#Bathgate #community