Thursday 2nd January was a proud day for the STFC Community Foundation.
Foundation Park was officially opened to kick off the new year in fine fashion.
It had been a long and, at times, difficult journey for the Foundation, but all their hard work paid off and they can now offer a state-of-the-art community sporting facility to the people of Swindon.
The Grand Opening was attended by 160 guests, who heard speeches from the Chair of Foundation Kirsteen Fraser, STFC Club Chaplain Simon Stevenette, and the Head of Foundation Jon Holloway. The ribbon to the brand-new facility was then cut by John Trollope and Nicky Alberry — who had previously both cut the first sod back in January 2019.
This £2.5 million facility will enable the Foundation to continue their work, and to expand so they’re able to engage even more members of our community.
It will allow the Foundation to offer state-of-the-art facilities to their participants, and their families, and to grow as an organisation - offering opportunities to areas of the community that were previously difficult to accommodate. One example of this would be our upcoming Dementia coffee mornings which will begin in the Spring, following on from our successful ‘Sporting Memories’ days over the last couple of years.
Head of Foundation, Jon Holloway, said:
“Since Clive and I first started almost 25 years ago, it had been a long-term ambition to build a state-of-the-art community facility in the heart of Swindon, and we can finally say that the Foundation has achieved it.
“It excites me to think what the future will produce, when we consider what we have managed to achieve from our previous offices. Already we’ve been approached to host two national schools’ tournaments where teams from all over the country will come and compete at Foundation Park for a place in the grand-final at Wembley.
"I know that our team of staff will not only complement this wonderful facility but will set it above the rest.”
