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North Wales Police and Crime Commissioner Andy Dunbobbin visited Llangoed Football Club’s ground on 20 July to learn more about how money seized from criminals is helping fund their project. The visit enabled the PCC to meet the team involved, to see how the funding is going to be invested and how the project engages with young people.
Llangoed Football Club is a community-orientated club that has a senior football team that caters for boys and adults between 16-40. It is currently the only football club serving the Seiriol Ward of Anglesey. Over the last 12 months, the Llangoed and Penmon Community Council has been working with the Club to improve the amenities for the players of the club as well as the public in the area.
The club received funding of £2,500 through the Commissioner’s Your Community, Your Choice initiative, with money going towards improving security at the club dugout following a spate of vandalism. A security gate will shortly be installed at the dugout to prevent anti-social behaviour.
The Your Community, Your Choice initiative, also supported by the North Wales Police and Community Trust (PACT) and North Wales Police, is in its ninth year. During this time, more than £400,000 has been handed out to deserving causes and much of it has been recovered through the Proceeds of Crime Act, using money seized from offenders, with the rest coming from the Police and Crime Commissioner.
Mr Dunbobbin attended the club’s ground at Tyddyn Paun Playing Fields and met with Alun Foulkes, Llangoed and Penmon Community Council Clerk, who made the application for funding, as well as member of the Club’s management group. He was given a tour of the ground and heard how the project benefits the local community and how funding received from the Commissioner will go to strengthen the project’s aims.
The Commissioner’s visit also occurred during Anti-Social Behaviour [ASB] Awareness Week, a national event with a ‘focus on the impact of anti-social behaviour on young people, and the importance engaging with the wider public about their vital role in tackling ASB.’
Andy Dunbobbin, Police and Crime Commissioner for North Wales commented: “I am delighted see funding from my Your Community, Your Choice initiative help support Llangoed Football Club.
“Tackling and preventing rural crime is a priority within my Police & Crime Plan and I have been pleased today to experience how funding from my initiative has contributed to the efforts in the area to reduce offending and antisocial behaviour amongst children and young people.
“The visit was timely as it aligned with ASB Awareness Week, a cause which highlights what ASB is and how it can have a detrimental effect on communities, which is something I am committed to preventing.
“As a lifelong football fan, I’ve seen first-hand how the sport can have a positive effect in bringing communities together. The Llangoed Football Club project shows how sport can help young people by providing them with a worthwhile pastime and can unite a community in support for their local team. Good luck Llangoed FC!” .”
Alun Foulkes, Community Council Clerk, said: “Following a disappointing incident of vandalism at the Football Club, we were delighted to receive funding from the Your Community, Your Choice to restore the dugout for our members.
“Today we welcomed Mr. Dunbobbin to our training ground to see how the money will be spent and to experience just how our project teaches young people, and adults alike, determination and whilst keeping them active though sport.
“By giving young people a viable activity, I believe it ultimately steers them away from committing anti-social behaviour and becoming a nuisance in our streets.
“I’m proud to have worked with the Office of the Police & Crime Commissioner and for their support we are incredibly grateful.”
North Wales Police Assistant Chief Constable Chris Allsop said: “Part of the funding for the Your Community, Your Choice projectcomes from the proceeds of crime and it’s right that money is taken out of the pockets of criminals and put back into community initiatives like Llangoed Football Club.
“This helps turn bad money into good and makes a real difference because it is local people who recognise and understand their local issues and how to solve them. Policing is part of the community, and the community is part of policing, and schemes like Your Community, Your Choice are a positive way of building trust in policing.”
PACT Chair Ashley Rogers commented: “These funding awards are important because they support community projects right across North Wales, just like this one from Llangoed Football Club, and it’s the communities themselves that decide where the money can best be spent. This project will take a hugely important message into schools and we hope that it will help give our young people the confidence and skills to excel.”