Brett Sponsorship For Local Football Clubs
Faversham Town Football Club has a new ride-on mower, and two other local football teams are taking to the pitch in smart new strip this season, all thanks to sponsorship from Brett Group.
Faversham Town Football Club has a new ride-on mower, and two other local football teams are taking to the pitch in smart new strip this season, all thanks to sponsorship from Brett Group.
Faversham Town FC
The groundsman at Faversham Town Football Club is delighted with the club’s new ride-on mower, which Brett Group sponsorship has helped to purchase. It used to take three hours of trudging up and down the pitch at the Shepherd Neame Stadium in Salters Lane behind the club’s old mower, but the new machine does the job in 45 minutes with minimal effort.
Club Chairman, Ray Leader, is equally delighted with the mower: “It does a grand job and what with a new mower and new changing rooms recently built with grant funding, the club is looking very smart.”
“We are very grateful to Brett Group and other local businesses for their support,” says Ray. “Faversham FC was in a bad place a few years back – we pretty much had to start from scratch in 2004 – but we have turned it around and visiting teams are now envious of what we have.”
A new changing room pavilion was completed in the spring, with grant funding from the Football Foundation and Viridor. The building includes disabled changing facilities and a medical room as well as new spectator toilet facilities.
Brett Aggregates’ Chairman, Gregor Mutch went along to inspect the beautifully cut pitch and try out the new mower. (See photo)
Cliffe United FC
Brett Aggregates and Brett Landscaping and Building Products are jointly sponsoring the newly-formed Cliffe United football club, which is run from the Six Bells pub in Cliffe village, close to Brett’s Cliffe site.
Keen local footballer, Stephen Scott is passionate about the sport and has a strong family connection with football at Cliffe. His great-great-grandfather played for Cliffe FC – a club which dated back to 1882, and every generation of his family since then has played for the many iterations of football clubs at Cliffe – Cliffe Athletic in the 1940s, Cliffe United in the 1960s and a very successful Cliffe FC in the 1970s and 80s. The club had, however, disappeared in recent years and Stephen decided to re-establish the club as Cliffe United, seeking sponsorship from local companies to help get the club off the ground.
Stephen takes up the story: “As Brett Group’s Cliffe site is so close to the village, I approached them to see whether they would consider sponsoring the club and I am delighted to say, the answer was positive. In fact, they were just brilliant. They couldn’t have been more helpful. Brett have funded new home and away kit for the team and it looks really smart.”
Around three quarters of the team are from the Cliffe area and the chairman of the club is the landlord of the Six Bells pub in the village, which is the team’s social hub after matches. The season got off to a great start for Cilffe United when they won their first game, a local derby match, 6-3.
“It is great to have a team back in the heart of the community again,” says Stephen. “We hope to be able to play home matches within the village soon, but there is no room for us this year, so we are having to play at the Deangate Ridge complex at Hoo for the moment.”
Jason Tomlins, Brett Aggregates’ Area Production Manager at Cliffe Wharf was pleased to help the club: “I met with Stephen to discuss sponsorship and the outcome was that Brett has funded the purchase of both a home and away kit to carry the Brett logo on the shirt. Although none of our people play for the team, a number of Brett employees do live locally and attend some matches in support.”
Lydd & Marsh FC
Meanwhile in Lydd, Brett Aggregates’ sponsorship is helping Lydd & Marsh Football Club which has a number of youth teams, including Under 11, Under 13, Under 16 and Under 21 teams. Brett sponsorship will cover the cost of new football strip for the Under 21 team.
The club strives to keep the costs low for the young players as Lisa Prince, who is the club’s secretary and treasurer, manager of the Under 13s team and an FA Welfare Officer, explains: “The club successfully secured funding from the Football Foundation last year which has been very helpful to us, enabling us to purchase much-needed equipment and kit and to cover travel costs and match fees, but we need further sponsorship going forward and Brett Aggregates’ help is just wonderful.”
The club is well-supported by parents, many of whom help with setting up and transporting the players as well as cheering them on from the sidelines. It plays an important role in the local community, encouraging young people to be active and getting them out in the fresh air. With so many youngsters now attending training, the club hopes to field two Under 21 teams next season.