Wokingham

Local football teams have scored themselves new changing rooms in Wokingham after Wokingham district council built a new pavilion at Barkham Recreation Ground on Latimer Road.

After years of having to change in an old iron Nissen Hut, teams using the pitches at Barkham Rec, including Ashridge Park and AFC Nam, can now kick off a new era of relatively luxurious accommodation with the brick-built pavilion offering two changing rooms with toilets and showers.

And to mark the upgrading of facilities at the Rec, executive member for environment services Wokingham Cllr Rob Stanton visited the pavilion to officially open the changing rooms on Friday (March 17).

The £138,000 project was funded through developer contributions, known as section 106 money and is set to be used by local teams from the start of the next football season.

“I really think that we’ve played a winner here with these excellent new facilities for local football teams. This is a great example of using developer contributions to make real differences to the local community and I hope that the teams enjoy using their new changing rooms,” said Wokingham Cllr Stanton.

Jonathan Pickup from AFC Nam said: “The new pavilion is a great result for local teams. For many years we have had to use the old iron hut to change but now the players are set to benefit from warm and comfortable changing rooms, which I am looking forward to using at the start of next season.”

Wokingham District Council