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Brackley Town welcomes the community to The Venue
22/06/2021
“It’s been the biggest project this club has ever seen … we’ve created this amazing space”
Brackley Town Football Club have unveiled their brand-new clubhouse to the local community. The mayor of Brackley cut the ribbon at The Venue this morning.
Its two years since a fire destroyed the Saints’ old clubhouse. Firefighters arrived at St James Park after a blaze broke out at around 3am on June the 20th 2019. Janine Butters is the CEO of Brackley Town and the first person from the club at the scene that morning.
“It was absolutely horrendous” Janine said. “I can’t tell you how much heartache you feel. I could see the firefighters were doing their best but the fire was just ripping its way through. I kept thinking ‘when are these flames going to stop’”.
The building couldn’t be saved and was demolished last year.
At the time of the fire Brackley Town had been in the process of building a cabin next to the old clubhouse and this has been used as the club’s base since.
As plans for a new clubhouse were developed the need to create a resource for the whole community became an important driver, alongside delivering a facility that supported the level of football the team were at.
Janine said: “We had a great clubhouse before, but it was getting old and tired. Over the years we kept bolting bits on to try and make it fit for purpose for everybody, but it didn’t necessarily flow.
“This was our opportunity to stand back and see what we could do.”
Despite concerns over funding the project, Janine praised the support the club had received from supporters, volunteers, the Stand Together campaign and initiatives such as “Buy A Brick”, which is now a feature within the new building.
Additionally the diligent work of the club’s Finance Director and Chairman Francis Oliver, together with grants from organisations such as HS2, enabled The Venue to become a reality.
“It’s been the biggest project this club has ever seen”, said Janine, “and probably the biggest project this club will ever see – and we’ve created this amazing space.”
Janine described organising the build during the pandemic as “treacherous”. She said: “Sourcing equipment or furniture – you can’t touch or feel anything anymore so it’s a bit of a gamble when you order anything.
“We put a lot of time into planning and designing everything and it looks great.”
The Venue has large windows facing the pitch and different areas so the new clubhouse can be a home for many community activities as well as a modern facility for the club. The main lounge can accommodate 160 people seated or 400 standing, which the club says makes it the largest venue in the surrounding area.
Through the day today members of the community have been able to have a look around the new facility.
The club have organised a family day this Saturday to welcome football back to St James Park. World cup winner Sir Geoff Hurst MBE will be attending as a special guest and the Glenn Walker All-Stars will take on the current Brackley Town team. The day starts at 11.30am with a walking football tournament.
Published: by Banbury FM Newsteam
Steve Bodily On 22/06/2021 at 8:07 pm
Looks amazing, well done everyone, can’t wait to come back and see it, you should all be immensely proud, absolutely brill