Town football club secures 25-year lease on ground

Woodbridge Town has secured a new lease for Nottcutts Park

A 140-year-old football club has described securing a new 25-year lease on its ground as a "major milestone".

Woodbridge Town FC has been based at Nottcutts Park in the Suffolk town since 1990, operating 27 teams for girls, boys, women, men and veterans.

Chairman Paul Leech said: "It's a massive relief, we can now move on... we are going to see where we can go with the youth [teams] being more involved."

Fans of the Thurlow Nunn Premier league club welcomed the "fantastic news" on its Facebook site, with one saying praising the club's "positive contribution to the local community".

Mr Leech said the "brilliant news" meant it could now apply for grants from the Football Association, having previously been largely self-funded.

"We can put in grants for the changing of the floodlights to LED to help save us money, for example," he said.

"We have been worrying - last year we had to find £10,000 for a new boiler, which we did through crowdfunding."

He also praised the retired volunteers who help "keep the place going".

The club house is used by a number of groups, including slimming and history clubs, and hopes to open as a warm hub in January.

The club, which was founded in 1885, thanked Notcutts, East Suffolk Council and Suffolk Football Association for their help in securing the new lease.