Thank you for such an exciting feature on football at the Community Stadium (Gazette, Tuesday).
It rightly celebrated the achievements of Colchester United Football Club over the last year and looked forward to the coming season, where success under the team of Robbie Cowling, Steve Bradshaw, and Paul Lambert beckons.
Like many others, I have enjoyed supporting the U’s in one of the best grounds in the league, and football provides a positive community benefit. But the stadium is so much more than that for Colchester.
Although there have been over 150,000 visits for football in the past year, over 50,000 have been for other reasons: 36,000 have enjoyed free or subsidised activities through the Community Trust or the management company (five-aside, education, foster carers, voluntary services, young, old, and the in between!).
Add to that comedy nights, Christmas parties, weddings, conferences and meetings, and the full benefit to Colchester is clear.
We wish the U’s every success in the year ahead, but we also look to grow those other activities at the stadium to ensure we get maximum community benefit.
Tony Barton
Chairman
Colchester Community
Stadium Stakeholders
Group
United Way
Colchester
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