Offenders are making a valued contribution to Notts County FC’s preparations for the new league season by cleaning seats for fans at Meadow Lane.
Community Payback teams supervised by Nottinghamshire Probation Trust were on site last month tidying up the Derek Pavis and Jimmy Sirrel stands ready for Notts County’s friendly matches against Turkish giants Galatasaray on Tuesday 16 July, Spanish side Rayo Vallecano a week later and Ipswich Town on Saturday 26 July.
The remainder of the ground’s 20,000 seats including those in the Kop and Haydn Green family stand have also been made good this week, before the new league season kicks off this Saturday, against Peterborough United.
Offenders joined ground staff and volunteers including students from New College Nottingham and other members of the community in taking action to get the Meadow Lane stadium match fit.
Nottinghamshire Probation Trust’s Director of Interventions Sheila Wright said:
“This is a prime example of how Community Payback makes a direct and very visible contribution to local communities. We’re very pleased to support Notts County football club both in the run up to the new season and beyond.”
Notts County’s Human Resources Manager, Chantelle Gibson, who played a key part in organising the initiative, alongside Stadium Manager Greg Smith and Facilities Manager Ben Armstrong, was full of praise for the way the work had been carried out and hopes that this can be the start of a strong working relationship with the Community Payback team.
“From the outset we could see that an excellent opportunity had arisen for Notts County to build a partnership with the Community Payback team, not only with their offer of support for the mammoth task of cleaning the stadium’s seats, for which they have been extremely helpful, but both myself and Ben Armstrong, Facilities Manager, could see a closer relationship developing going forward, assisting with other projects in and around the stadium.
“It is very important to us as a club to show that we are working with community initiatives such as this, enabling Notts to help where we can with partners of the payback team such as Real United, offering inner city children the opportunity to get away from the gang environment and giving them a different direction in life.”
Notts County would like to extend our sincere gratitude to all involved with the Community Payback scheme for their help in organising this initiative and helping to make a real difference that we are sure will be appreciated by our fans this season.