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Home Sport Football Caley Thistle

Caley Thistle’s community trust team help families feeling financial bite

Club's coaches and staff see record numbers of youngsters enjoy a range of activities throughout the summer.

By Paul Chalk
Duncan Ferguson, on the day he was appointed Caley Thistle's new manager last week, attended sessions run by the ICT community coaches for kids whose schools were shut due to the strikes.
Duncan Ferguson, on the day he was appointed Caley Thistle's new manager last week, attended sessions run by the ICT community coaches for kids whose schools were shut due to the strikes.

Free football and free meals to help families combat cost of living pressures led to a record number of children attending Caley Thistle’s Community Trust’s summer programmes.

Over the summer, the ICT community team welcomed 1,317 participants at 17 venues – sessions which included 160 hours of football coaching free of charge and 1,460 free meals.

An end-of-course survey received a 99.2 per cent enjoyment rate from those who responded, with parents who paid for their kids to attend feeling the sessions were reasonably priced, and believing the coaches engaged well with their child and courses were accessible to find and attend.

Caley Thistle’s community development manager Craig Masterton is thrilled at the response to the camps organised by his team in Inverness, as well as in Aviemore, Cromarty, Farr, Fort William, Nairn, Tain and Thurso.

Free coaching and free meals for kids

He said: “It truly has been a fantastic summer programme for us in 2023, not only blowing previous participant records out of the water, but hearing from families about the incredibly positive impact our camps have on all who take part.

“The comments we receive highlight the positive impacts the courses have on children in motivating them and helping them meet new friends in a safe environment.

“It shows the vital role we play, using football to engage across the community.”

Masterton explained the trust was able to provide free coaching and free meals in targeted communities thanks to funding from the Bank of Scotland Foundation as well as the Scottish Football Association’s Cash Back for Communities Fund and Scottish Gas.

He added: “To be able to provide an opportunity to so many deserving young children, whose exposure to activity and sport due to barriers of cost and logistics would have been limited, is a key pillar of our work in the community.

“The positive feedback further encourages us to expand our work in the future.”

Camp helped during school strikes

The club’s community development team also organised a camp between 9am and 3pm during the recent three-day closure of schools due to strike action, with full attendances of 112 each day.

This was run through donations-only, as a thank you to parents who had supported the summer camps and in recognition of the help needed by parents and guardians in coping with the disruption of the closures.

Over the past year, the coaches have also made a total of 47 school visits to deliver education through football.

They also deliver weekly para football coaching sessions and have recently attracted funding to resume sending a squad to take part in monthly para events in Stirling.

Also popular are the weekly walking football sessions held at the Highland Rugby Club’s all-weather pitch at the Bught Park, Inverness, and the popular monthly Football Memories meetings at the Caledonian Stadium on the last Friday of each month.

Walking football project is a winner

The Trust recently won the SFA’s Regional Grassroots Award for the best “Football For All” project, which is sponsored by McDonalds and the Daily Mail, for the walking football project.

The ICT Community Trust is the bridge between Caley Thistle and the community, being a charitable trust run by a board of directors and a team of community development coaches.

A major project being undertaken by the trust, in conjunction with the football club, is the creation of a community hub on a 10-acre site at Inverness Royal Academy playing fields, where the team will be based to deliver coaching to all sections of the community.

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