A girls football team from Kinmel Bay are hoping a smart new kit will help them clinch a top four spot in the North Wales League.
The club’s Under-14 team have been on an impressive unbeaten run since the New Year, holding league leaders Penrhyn Bay 2-2 after going 1-0 down with Summer Jones scoring from the spot and Baileigh Aaron also netting.
The new strip is courtesy of a grant from leading Welsh food distribution company Harlech Foodservice from their 50th Anniversary Fund which has seen them distribute over £10,000 to good causes across North Wales and the border counties.
The Kinmel Bay girls have been together as a team since they were five-years-old under the watchful eye of head coach Frank Standing who said: “We certainly look the part and we’re doing OK.
“We could even push for second place in the league and we’re into the second round of the League Cup as well.
“The way the league is structured we were in the top eight of the table for the first half of the season so we go on to play the other top seven sides in the second half.
“The girls are a great bunch and they work very hard. We have brought three girls in who are new to the club this season and they’re getting better and better.”
“Most of the team have been with me from the start and they show a lot of team spirit and really enjoy their football.
“There’s a lot of commitment too because they have to travel as far as Porthmadog and Cemaes Bay for away games but girls football is on the up and up.”
The North Wales Girls League has divisions for Under-17s and Under-15s so there is a progression for the players to senior football and the Kinmel Bay junior sides, boys and girls, train and play at the community-owned Y Morfa Sports Centre.
The Centre is run by the Kinmel Bay and Towyn Sports and Recreation Association where the football club, accredited Platinum Standard by the Football Association of Wales Trust, have about 250 players taking part on a weekly basis.
The facilities include an all-weather training area which is in action almost every evening as well as at weekends with players aged from four to 60.
The Under-14 Girls are captained by left-back Scarlett Gregson who said: “It’s a lot of fun and we’ve been playing well and I really enjoy the training sessions too.”
Central midfielder Molly Williams said: “I signed for Kinmel Bay this season because I wanted to improve my game and I knew the coaching was really good and it’s worked and we’re playing well.”
Britney Loughborough, Harlech Foodservice Local Account Manager, called to see the Under-14s in action and said: “I’m very impressed. They look a good side and they are obviously enjoying their sport and are keen to do well.
“It’s great that we have been able to help them and so many other good causes through the 50th Anniversary Fund.”
Harlech Managing Director David Cattrall said: “In the past 50 years we have grown from small beginnings into a major North Wales company with bases in Criccieth and Chester and we couldn’t have done that without the support of our loyal customers across the region.
“This is our way of saying thank you to the people of these communities and putting something back into an area which has supported us and played a huge part in our success.”
Harlech Foodservices was founded by Colin and Gill Foskett above a shop in Harlech in 1972 and now delivers up to 5,000 product lines to cafés, restaurants, pubs and public sector customers across North and Mid-Wales, Shropshire, the Midlands and the North West from its modern bases in Criccieth and Chester.
Colin and Gill’s sons and daughter are still on the board and the third generation of the Foskett family are now among a workforce which has grown steadily as the business has expanded to include NHS Wales, care homes and schools, colleges and universities.
For more on Harlech Foodservices go to https://www.harlech.co.uk/
