Gosforth Fields - A Brief History

In January 2004, 3 local sports clubs were invited to attend a meeting at Dronfield School regarding the future of the school sports fields. AFC Dronfield, Dronfield Town and Dronfield RUFC attended.

The school relocated in July 2004 and the 3 clubs took over the maintenance and administration of the site, operating under the umbrella of the newly formed “Gosforth Fields Sports Association” (GFSA), a registered charity.

Under this new regime, the playing fields have been cared for properly, with regular maintenance from quality contractors. Up to this point, the support facilities consisted of portacabins, crudely joined together and located on the disused tennis courts.

The whole site comprises 7 full sized football pitches and 2 full sized rugby pitches, in addition to a number of junior pitches.

The three clubs that make up the GFSA run 32 boys teams, 7 girls teams, 5 under 18’s teams, 8 senior teams and 1 veterans team. The age range catered for runs from 6 years old to over 35’s, with over 800 registered players. The 3 clubs have 58 qualified coaches with either FA or RFU accredited qualifications, all CRB checked under child protection legislation and all have first aid qualifications. Other sports accommodated on the site are Rugby League, Archery and Rounders.

With the help of Club Design Ltd (design and project management) and Logistique Ltd (grant funding bids and business planning) and in partnership with Derbyshire County Council, the GFSA has successfully put together a £2.3m project that will see the construction of a new 8 changing room club house, with officials changing rooms, disabled changing rooms, IT suite, social accommodation, meeting room for local groups, catering facility, new car park, a full sized 3rd Generation Artificial Grass Football pitch with floodlights and a comprehensive upgrading of drainage to the grass pitches. The new facility will use latest renewable technologies in the form of solar heating, ground and air source heat pumps and rainwater harvesting.

The major funders of the project include Derbyshire County Council, the Football Foundation, Sport England, the Rugby Football Union and Waste Recycling Environmental (WREN).

This will see the construction of a major community recreational facility that will ensure the long term sustainability of the site for recreational use

http://www.sportdronfield.co.uk/