Community group East Kilbride United are celebrating after securing a £185,000 grant to upgrade facilities at the Kirktonholme football pavilion.
EK United, which comprises amateur outfit East Kilbride YM and youth side EKYC, took over the facility in 2019 following a community assets transfer from South Lanarkshire Council and have already spent hundreds of thousands of pounds transforming the playing fields and arena.
And now they have received a significant grant from SLC that will benefit a host of community groups, including Claremont Colts, EK Hangout and SNAP, which all support children with additional support needs.
Disabled access will be improved at the venue and facilities including toilets and showers will be modernised, in what is stage one of a two-stage process to give Kirktonholme a further facelift.
East Kilbride YM spokesman Graeme Robertson said: “We are delighted, especially for the groups that are using it.
“There’s a few groups here but the facilities are a wee bit 1970s, which is understandable because of the age of the pavilion.
“But this will allow us to modernise it to allow access for wheelchair users and it means the whole community can get use of it now.
“We started using the facility for community groups through a plea in the East Kilbride News, where we offered Kirktonholme for free and SNAP have been using it for three years.
"There are a few users with wheelchairs and that was problematic, but this money will allow us to make it better for them.
“We will be modernising things like access to the showers so it’s all on a level footing.
“We’ve got to spend the money by March 31, 2023 and this is effectively stage one of two stages we are doing.
“Stage one is to modernise the showers and access, while stage two is for a seven-a-side pitch on a raised mound area between the pavilion and the current pitches.
“Claremont Colts are keen to come here and use that. They play on a sevens pitch and we hope that will allow them to not just socialise at the pavilion in a safe environment, but also to go out and play football or host tournaments and train during the week.
“We are hopeful that we might be successful next year as well to allow us to complete stage two. We’ve also got a new girls section and walking football group that would use it as well.”
EK United’s plans had received backing from a whole host of local politicians and nearby residents, and Graeme thanked everyone for their support in securing the grant.
He added: “Councillors Joe Fagan and Hugh MacDonald, the MP Lisa Cameron and MSP Collette Stevenson have all been very supportive so we’d like to thank them for that.
“We’ve had a lot of letters of support from local residents as well and we are very appreciative of all the backing we’ve had on this.”
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