Medals for all at sporting event
Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park was the venue for North Edinburgh’s very own Olympic Games earlier this week. Continue reading Everyone’s a winner at Spartans Olympics
Medals for all at sporting event
Spartans Community Football Academy at Ainslie Park was the venue for North Edinburgh’s very own Olympic Games earlier this week. Continue reading Everyone’s a winner at Spartans Olympics
Mascots meet at Easter Road
Edinburgh Social Enterprise Network’s mascot Doogie Goodstuff, who promotes all great social enterprise products and service across the city with the Buy The Good Stuff campaign – lined up for a fun penalty shoot-out with fellow social enterprise mascots at Hibs’ Easter Road stadium yesterday. Continue reading Social kickabout at Easter Road
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)!
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
Spartans Community Football Academy, Ainslie Park
Fridays 2 – 3pm
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
Brandon Walker 2001 – 2015: ‘ a brilliant smiley wee guy’
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.
Local recruitment company supports community initiative
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.
Central Taxis to sponsor Spartans Connections
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!
‘I am humbled by the generosity and humanity of the local community in reaching out to help those in need.’ – Colin Keir MSP
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.
Youth Work Provision at Spartans Community Football Academy over the summer holidays:
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