Lanarkshire children and their families benefit from football funding boost for Extra Time Programme

dailyrecord.co.uk:

Motherwell FC Community Trust and Blantyre Soccer Academy have been awarded more than £246,000 to help alleviate child poverty.They were amongst more than 30 football clubs and trusts across Scotland to receive funding from the Scottish Government, which has doubled its investment in the Extra Time Programme, a joint initiative with the Scottish Football Association (SFA).The Steelmen’s community trust organisation received £120,066.50, while the Blantyre Soccer Academy received £126,220, as the investment funding from Holyrood was increased from £2miiilion to £4million for this financial year.It will support more free before and after school clubs, and holiday clubs, for children from families on low incomes.The Lanarkshire Live app is available to download now.

Get all the news from your area – as well as features, entertainment, sport and the latest on Lanarkshire’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic – straight to your fingertips, 24/7.The free download features the latest breaking news and exclusive stories, and allows you to customise your page to the sections that matter most to you.Head to the App Store and never miss a beat in Lanarkshire - iOS - Android A projected 3,000 children a week will have free access to sport and other activities which wrap around the school day, and allow more parents to enter or sustain employment or training.Dawn Middleton, Chief Executive of Motherwell FC Community Trust, said: “The good news is that we’ve started delivering the programme out at Berryhill Primary in Craigneuk.

For us it’s a significant amount of funding to allow us to go in and support schools and deliver football programmes. "When schools finish at 3pm it doesn’t fit in with working life for a lot of people, so