It’s no yolk – Spartans aim to top 300!

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Spartans Community Football Academy have launched their annual Easter Egg Collection – and the Ainslie Park-based team are once again aiming to ensure that no local child goes without an Easter Egg this year.

The Academy donated over 400 chocolate Easter Eggs to local food banks last Spring – an eggstraordinary total! – and they have set a target of reaching at least 300 again this year.

Can they make it? You can do your bit to help by laying  donating an egg at the Academy at Ainslie Park by next Thursday (24 March)!

On the ball: Johnstone meets Street League stars at Spartans

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Alison Johnstone, Lothian MSP and Scottish Green Party Spokesperson on Health, Wellbeing and Sport, joined two groups of young people from Street League Edinburgh as they played a friendly match at Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park yesterday. Continue reading On the ball: Johnstone meets Street League stars at Spartans

Little Miss Kickers sessions at Spartans

Spartans Community Football Academy, Ainslie Park

Fridays 2 – 3pm

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Little Miss Kickers is our new girls only programme which is delivered during term time for girls aged 5-8 years. The sessions for this programme take place on Fridays (starts 26 February). Continue reading Little Miss Kickers sessions at Spartans

Brave Brandon loses fight for life

Brandon Walker 2001 – 2015: ‘ a brilliant smiley wee guy’

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Very sad to report the untimely death of local lad Brandon Walker (14), who had been suffering from an extremely rare heart condition.

Spartans Community Football Academy programme manager Kenny Cameron described Brandon as ‘a brilliant smiley wee guy, great banter and a great wee footballer. It’s heartbreaking news’.

Our deepest sympathy goes out to Brandon’s family and his many friends at this terribly difficult time.

 

Peace be with you: Spartans Community Football Academy recruits new sponsor

Local recruitment company supports community initiative 

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Peace Recruitment is delighted to announce it has teamed up with The Spartans Community Football Academy to help give more young people in Edinburgh an opportunity to learn through the power of sport.

The Spartans Community Football Academy, based at Ainslie Park in Pilton, is literally a stones-throw away from Peace Recruitment’s head offices in Ferry Road the charity which uses sport to provide young people with learning and development opportunities.

Spartans’ vision is to redefine what’s possible for a football club in terms of community engagement and participation, by delivering a positive social impact through the power of people and sport. It also aims to improve health, increase employment opportunities and reduce crime in the area.

Peace, which has agreed to become a sponsor, aims to work alongside the charity assisting the youngsters it helps with career decisions, work experience and ultimately finding jobs. 

“We were really keen to put something back into our local community, and were looking for an opportunity that really makes a difference to people’s lives in the area – and Spartans really stood out to us,” explained Chris Peace, Managing Director of Peace Recruitment.

“I am a local boy who grew up in this part of Edinburgh, so have witnessed first-hand the Spartans evolution. Spartans is unique and is so much more than a football club, it plays a huge part in the local community working alongside schools and different organisations encouraging more people to not only take part in sport but to learn, make better decisions and in many cases turn their lives around. It invests in their physical and emotional wellbeing, as well as helping out with their home life, giving youngsters a chance they may not otherwise have had.

“I could not be prouder to sponsor them and will hopefully become more involved in the years to come. I would like to use Peace Recruitment’s expertise to help teach the youngsters at Spartans about careers and what options they have available to them, and then through this hopefully place them in jobs where they can flourish.”

Spartans’ Craig Graham said: “Everyone at Spartans is delighted to have Peace Recruitment on board.  They are a great example of a flourishing local business and we’re delighted Chris is so passionate about helping us at Spartans.  We are about to open our brand new dedicated Youth Work Centre with some exciting, fresh programmes and we’ll use the investment from Peace to support these.  We are very grateful for their support and look forward to a long lasting relationship”. 

Spartans has senior teams competing in both the Lowland Football League and the East of Scotland League. Spartans also has a Saturday amateur side, several women’s teams, including Spartans W.F.C., who play in the Scottish Women’s Premier League and a thriving youth section with 600 youngsters attending regularly. 

Peace Recruitment has transformed itself from a ‘one-man-band’ into a multi-million pound company in just over six years. It now aims to be the company of choice in Scotland for the construction, property and engineering sectors within the next five years.

Peace recently became the first recruitment company in the UK to join the Institute of Customer Service. It has also just announced that it will be taking part in the Building My Skills programme which has just been newly launched in Scotland.

For more information about Peace Recruitment visit www.peacerecruitment.co.uk.  

Fare play to Spartans Connections!

Central Taxis to sponsor Spartans Connections

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Taxi for Spartans! Edinburgh’s Central Taxis are to sponsor local community club Spartans Connections. The Connections squad are delighted with the sponsorship deal and the new partnership is a great result for the Ainslie Park footballers.  Continue reading Fare play to Spartans Connections!

A helping hand: MSP Colin joins Muirhouse volunteers

‘I am humbled by the generosity and humanity of the local community in reaching out to help those in need.’ – Colin Keir MSP

Colin Keir MSP with volunteers Josh & Karma

Edinburgh Western MSP Colin Keir joined volunteers at the Muirhouse Community Shop yesterday to help collect and sort donations of clothing for Syrian refugees.

Mr Keir said: “I was overwhelmed by the support for this initiative from the local community in Muirhouse. It shows that Muirhouse cares for the plight of Syrian refugees and as winter approaches these donations will be much appreciated by those in need.

“This is a great partnership between the local community, its community organisations and Edinburgh Direct Aid to provide some comfort to those refugees now living in very difficult conditions in refugee camps. Once again I am humbled by the generosity and humanity of the local community in reaching out to help those in need.”

The initiative was organised by Tenants and Residents in Muirhouse (TRIM), Muirhouse Community Shop, Pilton Youth & Children Project and Spartans. The donations were sorted by the volunteers before delivery to Edinburgh Direct Aid.

Colin Keir MSP with TRIM chair Robert Pearson

A sporting summer at Spartans

Youth Work Provision at Spartans Community Football Academy over the summer holidays:

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Street Football In A Safe Place (SFiSP):

Monday to Friday throughout the holidays from 1 – 5pm

Ages: 7-18

Cost – FREE

Location – The Spartans Community Football Academy, 94 Pilton Drive EH5 2HF, next to Ainslie Park Leisure Centre.

Details – SFiSP offers the opportunity for young people to come and play (for free) in a safe, fun and friendly environment. Our Youth Work Team are on the pitch throughout the afternoon to join in the fun and also to make all participants feel safe.

Our 3G requires that everyone on the pitch must wear football boots while playing, but not to worry if you don’t have any as we have a boot bank for those who don’t have boots but would still like to play -and everyone is welcome to borrow a pair!

FooTEA:  Days

Friday Nights

Ages: 7 to 11yrs (5pm to 7:30pm), 12 to 15yrs (6pm to 8:15pm)

Cost – FREE

Location – The Spartans Community Football Academy, 94 Pilton Drive EH5 2HF, next to Ainslie Park Leisure Centre (although on occasion we do hold this elsewhere but parents/guardians will be given plenty of notice)

Details – FooTEA is one of the main youth provisions we run here at the SCFA. FooTEA runs from 5pm to 8:15pm every Friday night here at the Academy. The young people who attend spend the first hour playing football, and then afterwards we have a hot meal together, before they are allowed to take part in various activities such as Baking, Xbox, Pool, Table Tennis, Arts and Crafts, etc.

Coaching: Bend it like Beesley (BILB)

Monday to Friday 10am to 12pm throughout the school holidays

Ages: 3yrs to 12yrs (split into three groups:3 -4, 5-8 and 9 -12)

Cost – £40 for the whole week or £8 per day.

Location – The Spartans Community Football Academy, 94 Pilton Drive EH5 2HF, next to Ainslie Park Leisure Centre

Details – ‘Bend It Like Beesley’  is our fun packed holiday programme aimed at 3-12 year olds, named after Spartans First  Team star and SCFA Development Officer, Jack Beesley.

The emphasis is on developing young children’s football skills, whilst providing a thoroughly enjoyable week – all under the watchful eye of our highly-qualified Academy coaches.

For more info visit http://scfacoaching.com/bend-it-like-beesley-2/

Jamie Tomkinson, 

Youth and Community Worker, The Spartans Community Football Academy

Twitter: Spartans_CFA

Telephone: 0131-552-7854

W: www.spartanscfa.com

Sport in the sun at Spartans

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More than 250 children from six local primary schools descended on Ainslie Park yesterday for Spartans School Sports Day.

Pupils from Blackhall, Craigroyston, Flora Stevenson’s, Forthview, Pirniehall and St David’s took the opportunity to take part in a range of sports – from triathlon, boxing and mountain bike relays to judo, fencing and football.

The sun shone, the day was a great success and the happy kids all left Spartans with a medal!

Spartans Community Football Academy youth worker Jamie Tomkinson, who organised the sporting festival, said: “It was good to see so many children enjoying the different activities and having fun. Many of them were trying out some of these sports for the first time and it was great to see their energy and enthusiasm.”

Big events like this take a lot of organising, and among those involved in making the Sports Day such a success were Edinburgh Leisure, Spartans CFA volunteers, Edinburgh Judo, Nike volunteers, FetLor, Granton Youth Centre, MY Adventure, Fencing Fun’s Keith Cook and Kabo.

Some pictures:

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More pictures of the Sports Day on our Facebook Page

 

Spartans Fund for Grim appeal tops £5300

Magnificent support for family devastated by Crewe Terrace fire

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North Edinburgh and the wider community has dug deep to contribute to a fund set up by Spartans to support a valued volunteer who’s Crewe Terrace home was destroyed by fire on Thursday. Spartans set up an appeal for donations on Thursday evening – and just 36 hours later over 200 donations have been pledged and £5300 raised!

It’s a magnificent effort for a hugely popular volunteer – known as Grim O’Grady, Gary Betts set up Spartans Connections for players with disabilities over a year ago and the initiative has grown and grown.

Grim is still heavily involved in the setup and was at Spartans’ Ainslie Park home, just minutes away from his own family house in Crewe Terrace, when he first noticed the fire.

Spartans club secretary John McCabe told BBC Scotland news: “Grim saw smoke in the distance and made a joke saying ‘I hope it isn’t my house’ and then five minutes later his son phoned and said it was their house on fire.

“He was in an awful panic as he was worried about his pets. His whole house is gutted and his family only have the clothes on their backs, they have lost everything else. He is such a great man that we felt we must help him in any way we can so he can buy food and clothes and pay for accommodation.”

John McCabe went on: “We have had a big response from the community and Central Taxis has given him taxi vouchers so he can get around during this hard time. He does so much for people in north Edinburgh that they want to help him.”

While it’s fortunate that no-one was injured in the blaze, sadly the family pets could not be rescued and perished in the fire.

Grim has issued a statement on behalf of his family through the Spartans Connections website. Thanking Spartans, the community, he said:

“Obviously no amount of money can bring back our much loved pets but the community spirit that’s been brought about from our Spartans family is unbelievable.

“It’s incredible to see how far the hands of friendship have spread. Lynne, Jamie & myself are very humbled by how much has been given in the short & tragic time of these horrific events. It would have been a lonely horrible & isolated time had our community not come together.

“We’d like to thank everyone for their kindness, it has been such a crutch to know when we were at our lowest there were so many wonderful folk there to hold out their hands & pick us up. Showing great respect. We will be round to thank everyone soon.

“We are going to come back to our community as soon as we can find a place. We want to get back to where we belong & with the help of all our wonderful community begin to pick up the pieces & start again. Thank you all for showing such compassion and all your donations.”

To make a donation go to

www.justgiving.com/fund-for-grim

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