The Ballymacash Story Continues

Meeting the Ballymacash Sport Academy members last week was delightful. They are now the proud owners of the first full size, floodlit 3G football pitch in Lisburn. Everyone was very happy and proud of having gained such a fantastic facility for Ballymacash and the community at large. This project started in 2017 and, through the hard work and dedication of a group of local residents, their community now co-own a first class football facility. What does it mean? It means that more children will get involved in sports, more connections will be made across teams (who would not want to play on this new pitch?), more relations will be built across communities. Ballymacash Sports Academy raised £112,540 in community shares and that gave them the leverage they needed to persuade other funders, investors such as Co-op Foundation and lenders to get the amount of money they needed as well as gain the support of the local Council. Last week marks the completion of the pitch, what is next? The Ballymacash Sports Academy is an ambitious project that goes beyond football and aims to reinvigorate an area with a new building, too. Plenty to come from this dynamic and innovative bunch!