Pershore Hockey Club have played their first home game in the town for decades, thanks to a £900,000 investment from Wychavon.
The money was used to transform sporting facilities at Pershore High School to benefit both pupils and the community.
A new floodlit sand dressed artificial pitch has been created at the Station Road school which is being used for hockey and football training. One of the benefits of the project has been the return of Pershore Hockey Club to their hometown, after previously having had to play in Worcester.
The men’s team played their first home game on Saturday 11 November against City of Birmingham. As part of the scheme, the existing 3G pitch, which was about 20 years old, has also been resurfaced and the floodlights upgraded to energy efficient LEDs.
The need for new facilities was identified in Wychavon’s Playing Pitch and Open Spaces Strategy because of a lack of outdoor sports pitches.
Wychavon is investing another £400,000 into creating two more 3G pitches at Prince Henry’s High School and Inkberrow Football Club. It follows multi-million pounds investments in recent years creating the state-of-the-art Evesham VeloPark and the new 3G pitch, pavilion and stadium upgrade in Droitwich Spa.
Cllr Rob Adams, Executive Board Member for Stronger Communities, Culture and Sport on Wychavon District Council, said: “These are fantastic facilities that will benefit the whole community and it’s wonderful to see Pershore Hockey Club back playing in the town after such a long time away. It’s yet another example of how Wychavon is investing to increase the opportunities available for our residents to get active and get involved in grassroots sport.”
James Cox, Facilities Manager at Pershore High School, said: “We are delighted with the quality build Blakedown Sports and Play have provided for our students so they can use first class sporting facilities, and the community will benefit from them too.
“Feedback on both surfaces from community users has only been positive with special mention being made for the brightness of the LED floodlights.
“The school has scheduled hockey PE lessons to start in the New Year and all are very keen to use and teach hockey on a surface of such quality.
“We would like to thank all parties involved in delivering such a fantastic facility which will be used by many thousands of people in the future.”
Pictured (above left): James Cox, Facilities Manager at Pershore High School helps Cllr Robert Raphael, Chairman of Wychavon District Council, Cllr Rob Adams, Executive Board Member for Stronger Communities, Culture and Sport on Wychavon District Council and players from The Talbot FC open the new 3G pitch.
Pictured (above right): Cllr Robert Raphael, Chairman of Wychavon District Council, helps Pershore High School and members of Pershore Hockey Club open the new hockey pitch.
