KESWICK Football Club is getting ready for one of the biggest days in its history on Saturday, October 24th, when the new clubhouse facility at Hospital Field next to Fitz Park is officially opened.

The club’s new pitch won’t be ready for action until next season, but the £950,000 clubhouse is already in use by senior and junior teams.

Work started in September, 2008 and the project has come in on budget. The opening will be performed by Brian and Fiona Hewer, son and daughter of the late Billy Hewer, a club stalwart for many years.

Fifty seven per cent of the funding has come through the Football Foundation, with donations from several other sources  including the Camping and Caravanning Club and the club has raised £10,000 of it its own money towards the new facilities which, said secretary Martin Thwaites, must be as good any in the North West for a club of comparable size.

Keswick F.C. has over 180 members in its two senior and numerous junior sides and the opening of the clubhouse, in its wonderful setting, is the culmination of many years of planning and negotiation. Keswick will continue to play senior matches on Walker Park, their home since 1923, until the end of the current season.

Paul Thorogood, chief executive of the Football Foundation, said: “We are thrilled that the club and the local community will have access to these fantastic new facilities and commend the club and local FA for their hard work in making this happen.”

It is, he said, the latest example of thousands of projects across the country that the Football Foundation is supporting with money provided by funding partners the Premier League, the FA and the Government.

The facility has changing rooms for senior and junior teams and a function room which will be available for hire to local groups and is built to environmental standards.

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