Everyone here at the Falkirk Foundation has been extremely busy and in demanding circumstances, while continuing to work under the restraints of the Covid Pandemic. There is one thing that has been made clearer than ever is that 2021 has shown the value of having Falkirk Foundation at the heart of the community.
We now have over 1000 participants playing football through our Football Programs every week, using our first class facilities throughout the Falkirk community. These range from our Baby Bairns through to our senior’s teams and are made up of those that just want to enjoy all that football brings, to those that are playing in competitive matches.
Being a SFA Platinum accredited club we deliver a full football pathway for male and female and is an area that will continue to be developed by our excellent staff.
We were delighted to announce we signed up to SAMH’s Mental Health in Sport Charter and will work hard in the coming year to ensure that we fulfil our commitment to tackling poor mental health in our community. It is a particular area of focus for us and one that we will work to deliver the support that is needed at this difficult time and beyond.
This year we have also joined the European Football Development Network, which gets the work that we are doing out to a larger audience and allows us to share best practices with some of the biggest community clubs both here at home and from across Europe. We were extremely proud to have also signed the Armed Forces Covenant and will continue to work on this to ensure that we deliver on the commitments that we have made.
Our Community Project in partnership with CAMHS (Children and Adolescents Mental Health Service) won the best “Community Football for All” project at the recent SFA. Grassroots Awards. It is great to get the recognition that comes along with winning this award but the main reasons that we deliver these type of programmes is the difference it makes to those that are on them.
Our Changing Room, Football Fans in Training, Off the Bench and Walking Football programs continue to prosper, helping the wellbeing of the local Falkirk community. As well as these we have some new and exciting programmes lined up in 2022 that will be based on the community need and we look forward to sharing more details on these soon.
We continue to deliver our employability and education projects at the stadium in partnership with Forth Valley College, DWP and Falkirk Council. These have recently went through a rigorous SQA audit which resulted in being awarded a High Confidence report. A special mention to our Business Operations Manager, Dianne Dixon, for all her hard work as she moves on to a new role.
Our festive activities as enabled us to provide 230 food hampers to those most at need in our communities. Plus our Prize draw will raise funds to allow us to continue to deliver these much needed projects.
We have also been working hard on our new Strategic plan for the coming years and look forward to sharing that with you in the coming months. This will set out the areas that we will be focusing on and how it will be delivered at the heart of our community.
A huge thankyou to Stephanie Dawson, who will be leaving us for her new role with Active Schools and goes with our thanks for all that she has done and we wish her all the very best in her new role.
We would like to say a massive thanks to our amazing volunteer coaches who give up their time every week ensuring that everyone has a great time involved with the Foundation your dedication to what you do is outstanding.
Lastly I personally would like to say a special thanks to the Foundation Board, team and every one of you that engage with the Foundation. Your support through these difficult times has been staggering and I hope that you all have a fantastic time over the festive period. Take care and see you all in the New Year.
Derek Allison CEO
