Arbroath FC Community Trust is in its’ fourth year and about to embark on a new era under newly-appointed chair Barry Valentine.
Engineering manager Valentine has taken over from Shelley McCarthy and is keen to build on the ‘togetherness’ mantra that is emblazoned on the players tunnel at Gayfield.
The Trust is based in a shared office space within the football department.
And they have the same shared vision of enhancing the lives of the people in the town.
Using the power of the badge, Arbroath FC Community Trust has already delivered a number of impactful projects – with over 75% of it non-football related:
A community cafe offers a safe and warm space.
AFCCT’s Goals for Life programme, written by a primary school teacher, could be rolled out to schools across the country – thanks to buy-in from other football clubs.
And the newly-formed Arbroath FC Women’s football team offers an inspirational pathway to girls in the town to fulfil their dream.
Here, in their own words, chair Valentine and Trust manager Ryan Beattie underline to Courier Sport how excited they are to take the next steps in a new era for the AFCCT:
Barry Valentine:
Arbroath Community Trust chair keen to give back to his home town
I’m originally from Arbroath and only moved to the Aberdeen area due to work commitments in the Oil and Gas industry.
And as a father-of-four, I want the future to be bright for everyone.
If Arbroath FC Community Trust can play a part, even a small one, in enhancing the lives of some people then we will have succeeded.
The Trust has tremendous links with football and has delivered some exceptional programmes across all age ranges and to all abilities.
But football is only 20 to 25% of what we do.
I’m really proud of the part my predecessor Shelley McCarthy played in establishing and growing the Trust.
Shelley, the volunteers, staff and trustees have done an exceptional job.
Hopefully I can come in an align the organisation and work hard to increase the visibility over the wonderful work that they do.
The close ties with the football club are vital.
The badge is so powerful and we have to use it positively.
We also fully endorse the slogan of ‘togetherness.’ It’s clearly apparent every time you visit the club and see the staff, players and fans.
As a Trust and a football club, we are working as one.
We want to embed ourselves in the town and support it in any way we can.
Ryan Beattie:
Arbroath FC Community Trust manager says opportunities for growth are endless
Coming out of Covid in the way we did with a massive football programme was phenomenal for the local community.
We played a big part in getting people active again and there has been a growth in the recreational side of football.
Now we have a newly-launched competitive women’s side and it is inspiring young girls in our area. It shows there is a pathway for them.
A lot of work went into setting it up. If we were going to do it, we wanted to do it right.
The club sets high standards. For a part-time team, it’s very professional in its’ outlook.
The women’s team had to mirror that.
𝐖𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧'𝐬 𝐓𝐞𝐚𝐦 𝐋𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐩
The women line up with a strong squad for their trip to Anandale as they hope to get their Scottish Cup experience off to a winning start. A total of 20 made the trip as part of the squad.#MonTheLichties #ArbroathFCLive #LichtieLadies pic.twitter.com/oknpzs38h5
— Arbroath FC (@ArbroathFC) September 10, 2023
They have their own kit and the social media posts go out on the main channel.
In the spirit of togetherness, we wanted to share their message loud and proud and engagement levels have been really high so far.
More than football
We are about so much more than football.
We have positioned ourselves at the forefront of charity work in Arbroath and want to improve people’s lives.
Our community cafe offers a safe, warm space for all.
The Community Cafe
📆Mondays and Thursdays
🕚11.00-1.00pm
📍Life Church, Arbroath#MoreThanFootball #AFCInTheCommunity pic.twitter.com/blsyfi5uAi— Arbroath FC Community Trust (@ArbroathFCTrust) September 21, 2023
In terms of education. we launched a project last year called Goals for Life.
It’s loosely based on an SFA project called Learning Through Football. It engages with children who have additional support needs or who have challenges in their home life.
It gets them back into the school environment.
The initial plan was to give them some form of education using football as a tool.
We have brought in a primary school teacher who works with children with ASN needs to help us re-write the whole curriculum.
Now we have gone to phase 2 of that project.
We have brought in a primary school teacher who works with children who have ASN needs to help us re-write the whole curriculum.
It’s linked with Curriculum for Excellence and we put GIRFEC and Shanarri at the core of everything we do.
There are opportunities to engage in traditional learning but in a very different environment.
Rather than having your typical class talk in S3 they are out interviewing players or Dick Campbell.
Community buy-in is key for Arbroath
We have more exciting work planned at our base at Seaton Park from a football and community hub perspective.
The opportunities for growth are endless, especially when you consider the buy-in we have from everyone at the club.
When I first came into post we were working from home during Covid.
Now we have moved into new offices at Gayfield and the doors are always open.
Arbroath’s commercial director Paul Reid is always in our office and vice-versa.
The links we have with the club have reinforced that ‘togetherness’ mantra.
The community work the players do is also vital.
Kenan Dunnwald-Turan has been, in particular, great in helping support our work.
Arbroath is a very community-focused town and, together, we can achieve a lot of very positive things.
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