Ambers bank second summer funding windfall!

Cheshunt's fans, players and officials are celebrating a second major grant funding award ahead of the new Ryman North season.

A month after banking £150,000 from the Premier League-funded Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF), the Ambers have been awarded £297,716 of National Lottery funding from Sport England towards the installation of a new floodlit, full-size 3G artificial turf pitch.

The AGP is part of Cheshunt's wider development of a new 16-acre training complex of high quality pitches and facilities at Theobalds Lane ahead of the September opening of their new Elite College Programme in partnership with League Two Stevenage Borough.

Delighted officials at the Hertfordshire club say Tiger Turf, who won the contract to install the new state-of-the-art surface, will start work within days following the news with phase 1 of the new training complex due for completion in late September.

Cheshunt chairman Dean Williamson, said: “We are delighted to have secured this investment. Grass roots football is extremely important and the new AGP will be a huge asset to the club and the local area.

"It will upgrade the quality of our football provision to match the quality of our coaching programmes and allow participants to feel part of a club community.

Cheshunt's successful application was among 149 projects to secure a share of £16.5 million of National Lottery funding. The announcement comes as Sport England revealed that it has reached a major funding milestone – having invested £5 billion in grassroots sport in the last 20 years.

The £150,00 boost the Ambers received from the FSIF is earmarked for the installation of a new floodlight system, a 170-seater covered grandstand, pitch perimeter barrier, fencing, team dug-outs, re-surfacing of spectator areas and turnstiles.

* Teenagers from across Hertfordshire, Essex and London have been able to apply for a new football and education scholarship thanks to the new partnership between Cheshunt and Stevenage since April.

The ultimate aim of the new Elite College Programme (ECP) is to turn out professional footballers. Kicking off in September, the programme will offer boys aged 16-19 a unique opportunity to get a first class education while learning and training within a professional football club environment and playing in the British Colleges League.

Students who win two year scholarships will study for a BTEC Extended Diploma in Sport - the equivalent of three A-Levels – while also studying for qualifications to work in the sports industry, including FA coaching badges.

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