I don’t know how many of you will have been watching various news and football television programmes over the past week or so, but it has struck me that there is increasing national focus on the role that many football community trusts are playing in local communities, and the differences they are making in improving health and wellbeing.

Recently there was a feature on Derby County’s initiatives to increase men’s physical fitness and mental health, and some great examples of how football has been the key to changing so many individual lives – from rehabilitating substance misusers to reducing loneliness and isolation amongst divorcees.  In a news world currently dominated by politicians and Brexit, it’s been refreshing to be reminded of the positive impacts that football is having in communities.

Many of the clubs featured on national news programmes are English Premier League clubs – however, those of you that regularly read the Foundation updates will hopefully have picked up that we are really punching significantly above our weight in terms of our community provision, the partnerships we have established locally and the various projects we are delivering in Oswestry and surrounding North-West Shropshire and Powys.

At a time when there is considerable concern about youth crime, County Lines, etc., we feel that we have a significant role to play in providing positive, diversionary activities in the community.  Young people will hopefully be our football club supporters of the future, and our aims are to engage them in positive activities which give them a connection to the Club, and give them opportunities to be part of the ‘Football Family’.

Currently, we have a very successful Junior Youth Club which runs at Weston Rhyn Primary School every Thursday.  We also offer two Monday night youth cafes in Gobowen and Weston Rhyn for young people aged 10 – 16 years.  These are both growing week by week, and offer safe, supervised meeting places for young people on a weekly basis.

We have also recently established a youth project in Whittington, following discussions with Whittington Parish Council and Whittington Together – this project aims to create an environment which leads to young people being ‘social impact ready’ – ie equipped with the confidence and know-how to make a positive difference in their local community.

We are delighted with how this project is progressing, with local young people and adult volunteers working together to plan a programme of activity over the next twelve months, as well as having an opportunity to meet on a weekly basis in a safe, supervised environment to socialise and have fun.

Most recently, we have been approached by Oswestry Town Council to undertake an engagement exercise with young people in Oswestry Town to understand priorities for future youth provision in the town.  We will be working closely with the local policing team, the Marches School and the Town Council as part of this, and feel that we are now gaining recognition as a key trusted partner which can make an impact in the local community – we look forward to the results of this particular piece of work.

The above is just a snapshot of all our activity – and only relates to our children and young people’s programmes, which of course also include Cics Cymru Welshpool, fun football programmes, in school and after school provision, ‘Fit and Fed’ holiday activities, and weekly ‘All In’ activities for children and young people with additional needs.

On top of this we of course also have an impressive programme of activities underway to improve the lives of older residents – more of this coming soon!

In the meantime, if you want to find out more about our youth and community programmes contact myself or Wayne.greenshields@tnsfcfoundation.org.uk.

Lead image: Gill, with husband Jonathan, at Latham Park on Saturday just gone, watching TNS FC beat Barry Town United 2-0. Credit: Brian Jones.