K&M Communities

More opportunities for SPORT in Portlethen

Posted on 18/08/2014 Updated on 18/08/2014

Guest blog by Sandy McLaughlin, Chairman/Coach for Portlethen Sports Club 

Portlethen & District Sports Trust are a newly formed group within Portlethen & the Districts which will hopefully serve the community with sporting facilities to cover the community’s needs. The trust is already in talks with Aberdeenshire council regarding looking after an area of land in the Hillside area of Portlethen which will cater for a wide range of sports and give the people in the community a sporting area to be proud of.

We have already approached the local juvenile club who are desperate to find a home for their teams to play football and also an Archery Club who are also searching for land to play their beloved sport. Eventually, we would hope other groups will come on board to use the facilities and in time have the facility used to its full potential.

At the moment there is no pavilion for changing rooms but that too is part of the bigger picture for the project. We have not gone into actual costs yet but if all our ideas become a reality it would be fantastic for the community. We have had pledges from Stuart Milne to provide temporary portacabins and fencing around the perimeter so basically to get going we will need to try and raise money for drainage and land preparation to actually get started.

All the maintenance will be left to the groups using the facility and that will be offset with fees for whoever is using it, again, this has not been agreed with the users but will be monitored once the facility is up and running. The main users at the moment will be football as they have around six age groups currently seeking football pitches.

Any other sports thereafter will work around what area is available. The good thing about football is, it is played all year round so it will be used to its maximum by them.

A running track, cricket and also rugby coaching have also been mentioned so the early stages seem positive and once the area is advertised for use we are sure the facility will be a great asset to the community.

Finally, we are in the process of becoming a SCIO charity and the committee will, I’m sure, push to make the whole project a success. Any local companies who would be interested in supporting the group can get in touch via e-mail below.

It is an exciting time for the kids of all ages within our communities!