Ivybridge Town Football Club received a massive boost at the end of last week when we got confirmation in writing from Devon County Council that they will be awarding us with an £80,000 Community Grant to contribute towards the much needed facilities improvements at Erme Valley.

A couple of months ago, we invited local Ivybridge Councillor for Devon County Council, Roger Croad, to the Club and gave him a presentation on our Club Development Plan and asked for the Council's support with funding the improvements at Erme Valley. Roger was very impressed with what he saw and was very complimentary about the club development structure in place at Ivybridge Town Football Club and congratulated us on what we have managed to achieve with our Junior section in the short time that it as been running.

Following on from the meeting, both Roger Croad and Bill Wakeham, Ivybridge Town FC Chairman, have been working hard to progress support from Devon County Council. The fantastic news of the Community Grant came last week after Roger presented a bid to the Council Chamber, who were "absolutely delighted" to support the Club.

This is excellent news for everyone involved with the Club and will not only allow us to progress with the required improvements on the First Team pitch, floodlights and a spectator stand, as well as more general improvements on our Clubhouse, to include an extension on the front of the building.

It doesn't stop here, we are deep in conversation with the Football Association and have an important meeting on 22nd September with the Football Stadia Improvement Fund Committee to whom we are looking for match funding for against the £80,000 already secured to take over overall development budget to ~£160,000. As well as this, we are continuing to raise funds via other means through various club events in the hope that collectively we can raise as much money as possible to improve the facilities at Erme Valley.

We are running a Club Christmas Shopping Trip to the Bullring Birmingham on Sunday 30th November. The Bullring hosts 160 shops including Selfridges and comes highly recommended.

http://www.bullring.co.uk/VR.Bullring.Website/default.aspx

The cost of the coach will be £20 per person.

Please get in touch if you are interested. This trip is open to all Club Members, their family and friends.

We are running a Club Trip to Alton Towers during the October Half Term, Thursday 30th October.

The cost will be £38 for Children [4-11yrs] and £45 for Adults, which will include a coach to Alton Towers and full entrance to the Park. This is open to all Club Members, Parents and family members.

All enquiries or bookings should be sent through to me.

We are running a River Boat Trip on Saturday 27th September which will include 'Jill Cole' at the guest singer.

The cost will be £10. This is open to all Club Members, Parents and family members. Adults only.

All enquiries or bookings should be sent through to me.

Radio Devon presenter Gordon 'Sparksy' Sparks has put the rumour mill into overdrive at Ivybridge today after mentioning our planning application on his Breakfast show this morning. Sparksy made reference to our planning application for floodlights and a spectator stand at Erme Valley and seemed to suggest that it was almost a done deal, with the forthcoming planning committee decision being all but a formality. This was heard by a number of our Club members and followers and has meant that the phone hasn't stopped ringing all day.

We hate to disappoint, but the decision on whether we get granted planning permission has not been made and will not be made until the 23rd May, at the next Development Control Committee Meeting.

So for a little while longer, it is fingers crossed!

The draw for the October Meat Draw was made this evening after the First Team’s away fixture at Newton Abbot Spurs. There were a total of 15 prizes, all of equal value, which were as follows;

Nicky Pinhey (Ticket No: 1362)
Mrs Wright (Ticket No: 1624)
Mrs Jenni Cocks (Ticket No: 1802)
Mrs G Curtis – c/o Mark at Barclays Bank (Ticket No: 1536)
Mike/Sophie Smith – U14’s (Ticket No: 1607)
Jane Turner (Ticket No: 1379)
Margaret Glover (Ticket No: 1722)
Adrian Hill (Ticket No: 1612)
Mr Ben Smith (Ticket No: 1819)
Paul G - c/o Mark at Barclays Bank (Ticket No: 1586)
Mrs G Curtis – c/o Mark at Barclays Bank (Ticket No: 1537)
D. Willcocks (Ticket No: 1867)
Daniel Coxon – U12’s (Ticket No: 1357)
Dominic Carey – U9’s (Ticket No: 3824)
Sarah Hill (Ticket No: 1905)

Thank you to all of you that supported this.

Next month, we will be selling tickets for the Christmas Trolley Dash at Somerfields, Ivybridge.

The Ivybridge Town FC Meat Draw has been resurrected and the date for the next draw has now been announced. It will take place at the Clubhouse at Erme Valley on Saturday 28th October. There will be £150 worth of prizes up for grabs.

Tickets are available from the Clubhouse or from any of the Team Managers or Club Officers.