Lisa Nandy MP celebrates female participation with visit to local community football club

Founded in 2008, Cherrybrook FC now boasts over 800 registered players and nearly 80 teams. The club utilises the state-of-the-art, multi-million-pound facility at Laithwaite Park, which opened in August 2023 for training and the playing of matches.

Over the past 15 months, the club has collaborated with Leisure United, the on-site management team, to host a variety of community-focused initiatives, including holiday activity and food clubs, soccer clubs, tournaments, and school competitions.

The site also hosts educational programmes run by Wigan Athletic in the community offering BTEC and Degree level qualifications.

Cherrybrook has expanded its offering to young ladies prompting Ms. Nandy's visit. There, she joined several of the councillors to observe some of the young ladies' training sessions and chat to the coaches.

The club now boasts 13 female-only football teams, as well as a thriving Under-6s Girls soccer school that operates on Friday evenings. Of the 160+ girls who now play for the club, 130 had never played football before, allowing the initiative to introduce the sport to a completely new cohort.

The club has always invested in coach development and is now covering the costs for the coaches of these new teams. However, one of the biggest challenges with such a large intake of new players is the cost of equipment and football kits.

The council has been incredibly supportive. Several councillors made donations from their Brighter Borough funding, contributing a total of £4,000. The councillors who generously supported this initiative include Cllrs. Mary Callaghan, Lawrence Hunt, Marie Morgan, Clive Morgan, Paul Kenny, Vicky Galligan, Paul Collins, Mike Crosby, Michael McLoughlin, George Davies, Phyllis Cullen, David Wood, Shelia Ramsdale, and Eileen Rigby.

Cherrybrook’s chair, Mike Cotter, added: “As a club and on behalf of all the children, parents and our incredible volunteer coaches, we would like to express our gratitude to the councillors for their generosity and Ms Nandy for taking the time out of a very tight schedule to visit us. It was a pleasure to meet her.”

If anybody would like more information about Cherrybrook F.C., then please take a look at their website at www.cherrybrookfc.co.uk.