Tadley sports club's finances looking rosier
September decision on £48,500 developer's cash
A TADLEY sports club has revealed that its financial situation is looking rosier, as it awaits a decision on a bid for £48,500 of developer’s funds.
In a report to Barlow’s Park Management Association at Barlow’s Park recent AGM, treasurer Pete Courtnage said that there was a deficit of about £1,700 for the financial year ending March 31.
This compares with a loss of some £7,500 at the end of the last financial year.
The income of the club, at Barlows Park, Silchester Road, the home of Tadley Calleva FC, had increased by 17 per cent as a result of donations totalling £6,975, primarily from Barlow’s Park Environment Trust and the town’s Turbary Allotment Charity.
Hire fees, however, had decreased, owing to a monthly fixed fee arrangement with Tadley Calleva FC. Staffed mainly by volunteers, the club has been shored up financially by grants,which include an annual £9,000 borough council grant, plus £21,000 from the town council over the past three years.
Last year, the town council approved a further £7,000 grant towards the club’s running costs, after the sports club’s supporters turned out in force at a council meeting.
The club still awaits a decision on four stand-alone bids for £48,500 of developer’s funds, following an application made last month to the town council. These range from £2,016 towards floodlights, to £18,000/ £8,000 for a new, or second- hand mower, to £22,500 to repair the club’s pothole- riddled access road, or any sum up to £48,000 towards the £120,000 cost of a full-size artificial turf pitch.
The club is competing for the cash against two other Tadley sports clubs – Tadley Rugby Football Club’s application for £25,000 towards the £30,000 cost of extensive levelling and grading work on its third pitch in Red Lane, and the annual £10,000 maintenance of its two other pitches, along with a £2,000 commercial dishwasher for the kitchen.
And Tadley Calleva Youth Football Club has also staked a claim for £7,548 to install floodlights on the Pineapple playing field, Brimpton Common.
Tadley Town Council, which had invited the three bidders to a private meeting recently to pitch for the cash, this week confirmed that the applications will go back before members of the council’s recreation and leisure committee on July 13 for further discussion.
A final decision on the cash will be made by the full Tadley Town Council in September.
