Wiltshire County FA recently attended the Play Footall facility in Swindon to officially hand over to FC Abbey Meads the FA Charter Standard Community Club award that the club recently achieved.

The award was presented by Wiltshire County FA Chairman Clive Archer and was presented to the key members of the club including Club Secretary Clint Ricketts, Club Welfare Officer Chris Dean, Club Lead Coach Ibra Jagne & members of the U7, U11 & U12 Tigers teams.

In attaining Charter Standard Community Status the club become one of 9 clubs to hold the highest level of the Charter Standard accreditation & also recently the club become an FA Full Player Pathway Pilot Club which will see the club work closely with the FA to support the shaping of the new FA Club framework.

FC Abbey Meads was formed in 2003 and has been growing in size ever since thanks to the tireless work of the club volunteers and to date has doubled in size. Charter Standard Youth status was given to the club soon after its inception and the club also hold the status of being a Nike Partner Club which sees them as 1 of 150 clubs in the UK and 1 of 5 in Wiltshire.

Now nearing 30 teams particpating in three different leagues a new Mini Meads section for aspiring footballers from 4yr olds and a SSE Wildcats centre for young girls 5-11 wanting to learn and enjoy football will be introduced for the 2019/20 season to add to the current one adult male, two youth female & nineteen youth mixed teams currently in operation.

Tim Hall, Football Development Officer at the Wiltshire FA commented, “It was fantastic for the County FA to be able to hand over the Charter Standard Community status to the club recently and the award fully recognises the amount of work put in by a committed volunteer base at the club.”

“The club is unrecognisable from its inception in 2003 and continues to offer playing & coaching opportunities to all local children and adults in the local community.”

“Working closely with the club since forming it has been great to see the development of the club to offer an excellent environment for children and adults to participate and we look forward continuing to work with the club moving forward on their journey.”

“A special mention to Club Secretary Clint Ricketts & Welfare Officer Chris Dean for the role both have played in achieving this award for the club.”

The club are always looking out for additional players of all ages along with any aspiring coaches who would like to run their own team and have a senior coach from the club to mentor new coaches on their journey whilst also offering to support coaches with funded qualifications.  

The club can be contacted as follows:

Club Secretary: Clint Ricketts via clint.ricketts@fcabbeymeads.co.uk 

Website: http://www.fcabbeymeads.co.uk/

Twitter: @FcAbbeymeads