Message from the Chairman

Fellow Towcestrians

Welcome to the new winter season. I sincerely hope you enjoy either playing your chosen sport or supporting others that do.

As you are no doubt aware Tows are going through a period of change at the ground. This is all part of our new development to greatly expand the facilities that we offer, not just to Towcestrians but to the wider community.
A full update on the project will be sent to you in a follow up email by our Development Committee next week.

There are a lot of civil engineering works going on apace over the summer, but our sights are now are firmly on the next large part of the project, that to bring, after a period of over 20 years, hockey back home to Tows!

The hockey section which is expanding rapidly will then have the chance to grow further with the introduction of men’s hockey. The new astro pitch will also be available for other sports to use it and train on it. It will be in great demand, I are sure.

The great news is that we have secured a decent proportion of the funding for the astro pitch, through a very generous grant of £250k from London Marathon Charitable Trust, who helped us purchase the new land, a year ago.

A further proportion of the funds needed to complete the pitch construction will, we hope, come from SNC. In order for that to be granted to us, we have to go through some procedures to show that a hockey pitch (and the rest of the facilities we desire) is needed in the Towcester area. If we have to jump through hoops, so be it!

SNC have put out their proposed Sports and Leisure Strategy for public consultation and we have been encouraged to read it, and comment on it. They have an online survey for EVERYONE to complete. (it only takes 5 minutes to do!), and I strongly urge ALL of you as well as friends and family to do. It is VITAL that we can demonstrate the “evidence of need” for the hockey pitch and the rest of the project, such as the indoor tennis/netball and multi-use sports hall.

John English, one of our Development Committee, will be sending to you all, early next week, with the clubs view of what facilities are needed in the area, and we would encourage you to respond to the survey/questionnaire, accordingly.

In the meantime, here is a link to the consultation. We strongly urge you to read the “Action Plan” having first clicked on “Current Consultations, and Sports and Leisure Strategy”.

Towcestrians have already commented on this as a club, and given our views. We as a club have now been invited to meet with them to address our concerns.

https://www.southnorthants.gov.uk/consultation

Our hope is that if enough of us support the need for better and wider facilities at Towcestrians, our grant application for the astro pitch will be looked on in a more positive manner.

The astro pitch is just the next stage of our £5.4m project. We have already funded over £1.3m of this, so we are well on our way. We still have a long way to go, though. John will also be outlining the new fundraising campaign to help build the next part of the project after the astro, the new changing rooms. It will be launched under the banner of “Buy a piece of the Future”. We hope everyone gets behind this, as it affects every section!

It just remains for me, on behalf of the General Committee, to thank you for your continuing support, and hope you all enjoy not just the great sport on offer but, enjoying the terrific calendar of social events coming up.

Frank Osborne
Chairman
Towcestrians Sports club