HITCHIN: A junior football team is celebrating after scoring a bursary win that will boost their prospects.

Hitchin Town Marvels have been able to maintain training sessions and enter new football tournaments, thanks to a £600 cash boost from CALA Homes North Home Counties' community bursary scheme.

Due to the pandemic, the team's usual training ground became unavailable, so the team and its coaches needed to find a way for the team to continue to be able to train.

Thanks to the funding from CALA Homes, the team were able to buy portable goals, meaning they could now train more flexibly on public sports fields.

Eugene Dunkley, manager and coach of Hitchin Town Marvels, said: "The lads have been training and playing together now for nearly four years, and we were determined to not allow the impact of the pandemic to prevent them from continuing to play together.

"We are grateful to CALA Homes for providing the team with some much-needed equipment and clothing.

"The goals have enabled us to continue training when our previous training ground became unavailable and the jackets have protected the boys from a rain shower or two already."

CALA Homes' Community Bursary initiative invites charities, voluntary organisations and community groups to apply for a share of funding from CALA Homes, with more than 300 worthy causes now having received over £300,000 since the initiative was launched in 2016.

The scheme was paused in 2020 as a result of the March lockdown but was re-launched earlier this year to support groups and charities in need, particularly those which have been impacted by the pandemic.

Glenn Copper, Sales and Marketing Director for CALA Homes, North Home Counties, said: "The last 12 months have been particularly hard for the charity and volunteering sectors, with many seeing reduced funding at a time when local communities need their services most.

"CALA aims to make a positive and lasting contribution to the communities in which we build and that's more important now than ever.

"We know that this year's Bursary will mean a great deal to Hitchin Town Marvels and the other organisations selected, and we can't wait to follow their progress and see how the donations will make a real difference to local people.

"We would like to thank everyone who took the time to apply to the CALA Community Bursary this year and congratulate each and every one of them on the fantastic work they are doing within their communities."

For further information on the CALA Homes Community Bursary, visit www.cala.co.uk/bursary