Project Summary:
After 25 years of stagnation following legal battles with our landowners, we are raising funds to rebuild a sustainable community non-league football club for future generations of our town.
Our Club:
Hitchin Town Football Club is an English semi-professional football club based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire with a proud tradition of being a community football club.
We compete in the Southern Football League’s Premier Division and were founded in 1928 claiming lineage from the defunct Hitchin Football Club formed in 1865.
Hitchin Town have been based at Top Field since their foundation and this year celebrate the 150 year anniversary of the formation of the club’s forerunner. Our 150 Year Anniversary
The Background (Battle with Land Owners):
For over a decade, the club has been battling it’s landowners, the Hitchin Cow Commoners Trust who wanted to relocate the club to an out of town site and permit a Property Developer to build a supermarket on the site at Top Field, which as well as being disastrous for our supporters, would have been detrimental to local independent businesses and the livelihoods of those who own and work in them.
In December 2014, over 1000 people turned out for a protest march to demonstrate against the actions of the landowners. BBC News Report on our Protest March
There is no doubt the message the protest march sent out was instrumental in affecting the decision of the developer not to proceed with a planning application and the great news is that we now have a twenty five year lease that does not expire until 2039. Campaign Press Release
Where we are now (Why we are raising funds)
Stage two of the campaign now begins in earnest.
The current state of the facilities at Top Field is no longer acceptable and with a long lease now secured the opportunity is there to start regenerating the stadium. It is essential we now move forward after 25 years of stagnation and the uneven battle to keep plugging holes that has been the nature of our fight to keep the current stadium in a useable condition must now be replaced by the need to rebuild Top Field and move the club in to the 21st century.
Any money we raise will be used strictly for rebuilding Top Field, the estimated cost of rebuilding would come to around £2 million (£250k per main stand, £200-500k for a new pitch, as well as funds needed for the clubhouse, floodlights, changing rooms and the planning application) whilst we appreciate we are not going to raise all of this through donations, any money raised through this campaign will allow us to start the process.
The clubhouse itself is well used by many community groups for regular meetings and events. There are very few suitable venues in the town for such use and as part of this project we need to reuild the clubhouse so that it will continue to be a facility not just for the football club, but for the whole community.
It is only by keeping the football club at Top Field that we will ensure that there is no future threat of a large commercial development taking over the site.
We are raising funds to help us rebuild, please kindly donate from just £1 to help preserve this historic football club for future generations.
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This Crowdfunding site uses Debit Card/Credit Card/Paypal, but if you would prefer to donate by cheque, then please make payable to “Save HTFC” and send to the following address. Any donations made by cheque will not count towards our Crowdfunder target, but will of course be very gratefully received by the Save HTFC Campaign.
Address to send cheques to:
Save HTFC C/O Mr Roy Izzard
Bradshaw Johnson Chartered Accountants
11 Bancroft
Hitchin
Herts, SG5 1JQ