Clifton Access Centre

Background

The Access Centre is part of a proposed £2.3m development which will see South Nottingham College joining forces with Clifton Football Club. The project is jointly funded through the European Regional Development Fund and the Football Foundation. In addition to improving the club's current sporting facilities the project will create brand new facilities for SNC's Clifton site, including an artificial football pitch and an Access Centre.

Provision

The Access Centre will provide a single gateway for local learning and will bring all aspects of provision into one co-ordinated approach. The aim is not only to introduce all local people into the concept of learning, but also to provide a support system with clear progression pathways for individuals seeking to enhance life, learning or employment skills with a particular focus upon sport.

Further Details:

South Nottingham College Greythorn Drive West Bridgford Nottingham NG2 7GA Tel: David Drury on 0115 914 6400 Email here or visit www.snc.ac.uk

 

College Launches £8m Football Project - 13 October 2006

More football pitches are to be built in Clifton thanks to an £8m project. A shortage of fields means Clifton FC's teams play home matches on pitches elsewhere. Now the team is looking to expand with help from a project called Connecting Clifton Community. South Nottingham College is teaming up with the club to improve sports and educational provision. It will see new football pitches at the college's Charnwood Centre, as well as Clifton FC's ground. The first phase is to start in early 2007, subject to funding. The football team hopes to raise £76,000 through local sponsors. The college will plough £2.7m into sports and learning with funding from the European Redevelopment Fund and the Football Foundation. First phase plans will create: Four full-size football pitches - three at the college and one at Clifton FC, as well as one artificial, floodlit pitch Four new mini-football pitches New changing rooms at the college and Clifton FC Two ICT classrooms A community access centre for Clifton residents, offering careers and job guidance, and IT support. South Nottingham College runs its art and media courses at the Charnwood Centre in Clifton. It has adult education provision with Fairham Community College and has a centre at Clifton Library, offering IT and adult leisure courses. The project is part of the college's aim to move its sports provision from West Bridgford to the Charnwood Centre. David Drury, Director of Market Development at SNC, said: "It's a very exciting opportunity. It will provide first-class sports facilities and a first-class learning centre for Clifton. We hope to pull them back into education using sport as a vehicle. It will cement the future of the college and provide excellent education for post-16s for the next 25 years." The second phase will redevelop the centre with new classrooms, sports hall, gym and a Skills Centre for construction, engineering, kitchen design and hairdressing. The project will cost £8m. Norman Archer, 59, vice-president of Clifton FC, said the project would be a massive boost. "It's an exciting adventure," he said. "It means we can update our changing facilities, which were built in the 1940s, to have male and female changing rooms, toilets and showers, and meet FA standards. The other problem is drainage. This means we will be able to drain the pitch and use it whatever the weather. "And the training pitch is one of the biggest bonuses of all. We also want to extend this into the community, and allow schools to use the facilities." Clifton FC has four girls' teams, one ladies' team, 13 junior boys' squads and three adult mens' teams. "We will be able to add to that with this project, because they will all be able to use the new pitches," said Mr Archer.

He said the squad still needed to raise some money towards the work. To help, call Mr Archer on 07860 233722.