New community football club opens for children as young as four in Milton Keynes town

The first in a wave of new community clubs aimed at connecting local people with social and wellbeing activities has opened in Bletchley.

The initiative is part of a special partnership between the NHS Milton Keynes City Council to improve the community.

Based at Sir Herbert Leon school, ‘Let’s Kick It’ offers weekly football coaching to children aged four to 14 years old and is the first of many Bletchley Clubs being planned.

The council and NHS have set aside £150,000 over the next 15 months to fund clubs and activities in Bletchley. The funding will enable residents, community groups and organisations to run events that benefit the community, ranging from entertainment or skills classes to sports and physical activities.

The new initiative follows on from similar projects in The Lakes Estate and Fullers Slade, where 32 clubs were attended by around 10,000 people in the past year.

The council will work alongside the NHS to ensure that the most vulnerable adults and children are supported by the clubs.

Cllr Jane Carr, Cabinet member for Inequalities and Child Poverty, said: "This is about supporting local people to set up social activities and clubs within their own community. Bletchley Clubs will offer an opportunity to meet new people, make friends and potentially, learn new skills. Feedback from similar schemes elsewhere in the city has been very positive and we’re pleased to be launching something like this for our residents in Bletchley.”

-You can learn more about Bletchley Clubs by visiting here.