We have been impacted by COVID-19 in the same way many other organisations similar to our selves have resulted in a substantial loss of revenue and we are existing on dwindling reserves.

The Club prides itself on being financially self-sufficient in normal times, but the ongoing Covid situation has had a huge impact on our income and we have lost 70% of our revenue in 2020/21 compared to a normal year. We have lost revenue through the lack of participation and subsequently subscriptions, and the inability to host regular fundraising events as a result of government restrictions relating to the pandemic. We had been building up our reserves to pay for continued improvements to our Clubhouse and Grounds to sustain the Club in the future - Our facilities and playing surface are second to none!

Club Overview:-

We continue to operate both our youth and senior sections, with approximately 140 members in total ranging from age 4 through to the senior squad. We have teams playing competitively at 4, 7 and 11 aside within the colts section and our senior team competes in the Edinburgh and Lothians Amateur League.

Our challenges remain primarily focussed on our facilities and the lack of winter training facilities in and around West Linton. As a result, our pitch and training areas are subject to intense usage and ultimately, all of our functional objectives centre on getting to a point whereby the club is completely self sufficient on our own site. It may be ambitious, but without reaching those targets, there will always be a ceiling on the extent to which the club and grow and develop.

Key Operational Objectives:-

•Grow our Colts section to provide more High School age teams. The challenge around this will always be numbers given that we require 20 children at any given age group to operate an 11 aside team. This won’t happen every year given the size of our catchment, but we are eager to build on the one team we have just now.

• Girls – there is a huge amount of momentum in women’s football globally and we are aiming to build on that by improving the participation levels of girls within the club. We are looking at applying a designated resource to this in the coming months.

• Walking Football – we had made early tentative steps with regard to starting a walking football team and will pick these up again in due course. This targets men and women over 50 which would be a great addition to the club in the years to come.

Thank you to everyone who pledges money towards our campaign - You are all very welcome at our Club!