Thursday 23 August 2007
The community of Inverbervie will be celebrating this Saturday (25 August) with the official opening of Bervie Caley FC’s new pavilion.
Supported by a Lottery award of £50,715 from sportscotland, the new pavilion incorporates shower and changing accommodation and storage, all housed in a purpose built facility adjacent to an existing playing field. This is the only pitch serving the Royal Burgh of Inverbervie, which has a population of just over 2,000. The pavilion will be used primarily by Bervie Caley Football Club allowing them to develop their activities, host games and matches as well as provide football coaching to young people in area. It will also be used by other community groups and local schools for a range of sports and activities increasing the opportunity for local people to take part in sport.
In 1999 a committee was formed to resurrect Bervie Caley football team, which had been disbanded in the late eighties due to changes in the qualifications for the then league and also players’ family commitments. It became apparent to the committee that to have fully functioning local football team their home pitch would require a changing pavilion as the existing wooden hut had long collapsed. The committee then set about raising funds and seeking sources of funding to build a pavilion. Since then Bervie Caley have gone from strength to strength and now has a thriving membership of over 120. The club currently has two teams in the senior leagues with around 30 players involved in each and over 60 promising youngsters coming through the ranks.
Alick Smith, Secretary, Bervie Caley FC said: “The committee and membership of Bervie Caley are very grateful to sportscotland for the award of funding which has made this project become a reality in such a short period of time. With this facility we are now in a position of providing excellent facilities to all, and will no doubt in the future provide some first class sporting personnel.”
Julia Bracewell OBE, Chair, sportscotland said: “sportscotland is delighted to have supported the creation of the new pavilion at Bervie Caley with a Lottery award of £50,715, supporting the development of youth football within the local area.
“We are committed to providing quality, accessible facilities for communities across Scotland and the new pavilion will hopefully prove to be an major asset for the club and the local community.”