Hockey: Brighton's new ground hope comes closer (From The Argus)

Hockey: Brighton's new ground hope comes closer

9:38am Thursday 26th July 2007 in Sport By Howard Griggs

Brighton and Hove Hockey Club's bid to provide a conveyor belt of talent for the city has become a step closer.

The club's £1.6million scheme to build two all-weather multisport pitches and a clubhouse on land adjacent to Cardinal Newman School is coming to fruition.

They have almost raised their share of the funding and, with planning permission already in place, they could be playing at the new facility by the start of the 2009-10 season.

The scheme is a joint project with Cardinal Newman and its impact will stretch way beyond just providing a brighter future for the club.

Brighton, whose men's 1st XI are just one step away from playing in the national league, are hoping having a place they can call home will boost numbers at the club.

Meanwhile, a large number of other schools, as well as disability groups, will also reap the benefits of having specialist facilities available to use.

Brighton's development officer, Cameron Heath, said: "We have been crying out for this for 20-odd years. At the moment we still use Stanley Deason and Falmer and have the clubhouse at Preston Park, which is not ideal. In terms of junior development, we are very limited with the time we can get on the pitches at Stanley Deason and it is a pretty inhospitable place in mid-winter.

"Parents do not want to hang around, they drop the children off, disappear and come back an hour later.

We would like a set-up with a warm, sheltered clubhouse right next to the two pitches which would, hopefully, mean a lot more juniors coming along and more parents getting involved.

The central location helps with that enormously."

Club member and project architect Nicola Thomas added: "I have been in the club for 22 years and it has always been an issue. I remember getting involved in two or three other schemes that didn't go far down the line because of various planning issues and other issues.

"In every respect this one is ideal, you have school support, there is no issue with parking because you can use the school's parking, there is no real issue with extra access and we have planning permission which is a big thing in Brighton."

The biggest plus of the scheme is the link with schools. The land is between Cardinal Newman and BHASVIC, who will both benefit enormously, while Dorothy Stringer, Blatchington Mill and Stanford Juniors will also use the facility.

Brighton's Gail Gilbert, who is responsible for community partnerships, said: "The big thing about Blatchington Mill and Dorothy Stringer is they have had to take hockey off the curriculum because they haven't got a suitable surface.

"They used to play on grass but you just can't train to any competitive level on grass. They are desperate to bring hockey back into their curriculum and this will enable them to do that.

"There used to be a whole cohort of players that came from Blatchington Mill who have been our best players for a number of years. That has all dried up because they have taken hockey off the curriculum.

"We will also make a big thing about after school clubs. Cottesmore Primary are jumping up and down to use it and if other schools are keen to get involved we would welcome that.

We won't be exclusive about things it will be open to everybody."

Brighton need to raise half the cost of the project themselves and once they have done that they can apply to a Lottery-based funding organisation for the rest of the money.

With the school involvement, the inclusion of disability groups and the fact that the facility could be used for other sports, there is not expected to be a problem with their application but the club do need one final push with their own fund raising.

But Heath is already excited about the possibilities for the future.

He said: "One of the things about the design of the pavilion is you can stand on the roof and it overlooks the pitches. It would be fantastic to stand out there in two years' time and look out and see a hundred youngsters playing hockey on those pitches whereas at the moment we can only get 50 once a week for an hour."

Anyone who would like to help with the club's fund-raising can visit www.newclubhouse.co.uk or email timireland@newclubhouse.co.uk.