Frodsham junior footballers hoping for bags of help from Tesco customers

Frodsham Junior Football Club is bidding to bag a massive cash boost from the Tesco Bags of Help initiative.

Tesco teamed up with Groundwork to launch its community funding scheme, which sees grants of up to £4,000, up to £2,000 and £1,000 raised from carrier bag sales in Tesco stores awarded to local community projects.

Three groups in every Tesco region have been shortlisted to receive the cash award and shoppers are being invited to head along to Tesco stores to vote for who they think should take away the top grant.

Frodsham Junior Football Club, a much loved and respected sporting institution in the local area, is one of the groups on the shortlist.

Established in 1979, the club will be celebrating its 40th anniversary in 2019 and is seeking to mark this milestone with an exciting new development by enabling the build of a 3G-football facility at Helsby High School.

The success of this project will not only provide Frodsham JFC with a state-of- the-art, safe and secure all weather 3G facility for training and match days, it will also provide Helsby High School and local primary schools with exclusive use of the facility during school hours.

The wider Helsby and Frodsham community will also benefit with access to the facility for social usage.

The potential funding from Bags of Help will be used for the specific purchase of junior football goals and netting.

Voting is open in all Tesco stores throughout April. Customers will cast their vote using a token given to them at the check-out in store each time they shop.

Tesco’s Bags of Help project has already delivered more than £40 million to 9,700 projects up and down the UK. Tesco customers get the chance to vote for three different groups every time they shop.

Every other month, when votes are collected, three groups in each of Tesco’s regions will be awarded funding.

Alec Brown, head of community at Tesco, said: “There are some fantastic projects on the shortlists and we can’t wait to see these come to life in hundreds of communities.”

Groundwork’s national chief executive Graham Duxbury said: “We’ve been thrilled to see the diversity of projects that have applied for funding, ranging from outdoor classrooms, sports facilities, community gardens, play areas and everything in between.

“We’re looking forward to learning the results of the customer vote and then supporting each group to bring their project to life.”

Andy Loyden, Frodsham JFC’s fundraising officer, added: “We are delighted to have been chosen for the Tesco Bags of Help scheme and we have great confidence that our local community (many of whom have had an association with Frodsham Juniors during its near 40-year history) will willingly support the football club when they visit our local Tesco store in Helsby.”

Funding is available to community groups and charities looking to fund local projects that bring benefits to communities. Anyone can nominate a project and organisations can apply online. To find out more visit www.tesco.com/bagsofhelp.

Anyone interested in finding out more about Frodsham Juniors should visit www.frodshamjfc.org.uk.