Shrewsbury Town in the Community host successful 21st Anniversary Celebration
Shrewsbury Town in the Community enjoyed a stellar evening on Thursday night as they celebrated their 21st Anniversary.The evening saw awards presented to those who have been involved in community activities over the last year and celebrated the work that had been undertaken.
It had been a successful year for Shrewsbury Town in the Community, with over 7,000 people taking part in their activities.
Head of Community Jamie Edwards was delighted with how the event had gone and hopes that more people now understand the work they do.
“What we wanted to get out of the night was an understanding of what we did and just speaking to people at the end of the night, they get it now,” Jamie told ShrewsWeb.
“They understand what we are here for, why we want to reach out into the community and hopefully they got the message that we want to do even more and it’s not going to stop just here.
“I think they saying ‘We’re not just football coaches’ is so relevant tonight and we worked hard to get that message across. Yes we do football coaching and we do that very well, but we do a lot more and we want them to understand that we want to do even more.”
Over the last 21 years the community department has gone from strength to strength and Jamie praised those that had been involved.
“When you look back at the 21 years you’ve got Dick Pratley who started it and then you’ve got Brian Williams who did a superb job while he was here, said Jamie.
“It’s not all about me, it’s about the people around me. It’s about the trustees that the club have allowed to come in that have given me massive support.
“The staff that we have, have shown me tonight that they are passionate about what they do. They are proactive people that are already talking tonight about how they can make this event even better.”
Shrewsbury Town in the Community are now desperate to keep increase what they provide and Jamie is hopeful that the plans to take over the training pitch will come fruition.
“It would be horrible if we were too stagnate now and stand still.
“I’m not going to put people over a barrel and say if we don’t get this facility we are going to stop the good work we are doing because that wouldn’t be true, but it’s going to hinder what we can do.
“We’ve got an opportunity here to really make a difference for the people on the doorstep of the stadium, which I’m sure was the plan when they stadium first moved here.
“We could put a facility in here that is not just going to help Shrewsbury Town in the Community, not just help Shropshire junior football leagues, Shrewsbury Town Football Club, Meole Brace Village, it’s going to help thousands of people and give them the access, no matter what age they are, to improve their lives.”
Jamie is now looking ahead to the future and is hopeful that together with the football club, Shrewsbury Town in the Community can move forward and get their message out there.
“Some people say there are blurred lines between the charity and the football club,” said Jamie.
“We wouldn’t exist without the football club. We are in a privileged position to use the brand, use the badge, to go forward and if the football club doesn’t go forward we are going to struggle to go forward ourselves.
“Anything we do well is going to help the club and anything the club does well is going to help us. It’s something that we need to be better and with our new website we will be able to communicate better and hopefully people will start getting the message.”