The main users of the Recreation Ground, with its 2 football pitches, are Brompton Junior Football Club (BJFC) who have 20 very active and keenly supported junior football teams, which include a growing number of girls teams. They currently have 4 girls teams (Under 10, Under 11, Under 12 and Under 14) and have enough interest to start a team for Under 8 year old girls in the near future. The BJFC are naturally keen to encourage this growing interest from both boys and girls but whilst the existing facilities are just about acceptable for the boys they are not for the girls. The girls teams currently rely on the senior school about 2 miles away for both changing rooms and, due to the distances involved, the use of the school’s pitches. This is not a suitable long term arrangement as it relies on the continuing goodwill of the school and does little for the overall cohesiveness of the BJFC as the girls teams are seen as something of a separate entity, a situation which they obviously wish to avoid. The Recreation Association has had a long held aspiration to replace the portacabins with purpose built changing rooms and we are now almost in a position to do so. The original project cost was estimated to be £352K and, based on this figure, we were awarded a 61.7% grant (£217K) by the Football Foundation which when added to own funds of £52K left us with a shortfall of £83K. However when recoverable VAT was taken into account there was a shortfall of £21K, an amount which, at the time, we were confident we could raise. We have experienced considerable difficulties in finding a contractor who is prepared to undertake the project in the necessary timescale and now escalating building costs have meant that we now have insufficient funds to complete the project in its entirety. The latest quote we have received is for £455K which means after allowing for recoverable VAT we now need approximately a further £130K. This is an important project for our community because it will help to encourage girls, as well as boys, to get involved in sporting activities, a very important consideration in this age of increasing obesity amongst the young. A proper changing room and associated committee room and kitchen will provide a proper ‘home’ for the BJFC; a home which both the club and the community can take justified pride in. It will also provide a base for community sporting activities and fund raising events which is noticeably lacking at the moment.