Football in Chilton has been embedded in the culture and heritage of the town for well over a century.
The Miners’ Welfare established a trust in 1920 to raise funds to convert part of the West Chilton allotment site into football pitches and a tennis court.
The ambition was to foster the talent of local players, including the likes of Charlie Wayman, who started his football career with Chilton Colliery and the rest, as they say, is history.
The pitches have been relocated since the early days of the Miners’ Welfare Recreation Grounds to accommodate the opening of the A167 bypass in 2005.
Unfortunately, in recent years the pitches on the Charlie Wayman field, as it is now named, have not seen much match play, given issues with drainage, further exacerbated by increasing rainfall which has meant that the Chilton Juniors FC had to find alternative accommodation for training and matches, causing much frustration to some local residents.
At last week’s public meeting, hosted by the junior football club in their soon to be opened Otters Bar, Sue Reece, who took on the Chair of the Trust last September, and fellow trustees, David English, Pearl Malpas and Elizabeth Bruce provided an update on the work they have been conducting, supported by Durham FA and the Grounds Maintenance Association (GMA), to investigate and improve pitch conditions.
A Durham FA Football Assessment Report confirmed that the pitches were in poor condition with slow drainage allowing for the Trust to commission the GMA to conduct a full investigation into the drainage system.
The report revealed that the secondary drainage system, installed three years ago, is in very poor condition and installed to a poor standard.
This included no caps on the ends of pipes, poor connectors, crushed collector drains and poor-quality work.
The cost for carrying out repairs will be in the region of between £105- £185,000.
The Trust is now working towards identifying funding sources to carry out the repair work and to support the ongoing maintenance and upkeep of the pitches.
The Chair advised that 75% match funding for a six-year £38,000 maintenance programme and £2,500 for new goal posts has already been secured from the Football Foundation, and the trust is waiting for the outcome of a further £50K equipment bid. However, the immediate concern is improving the drainage.
The Chilton Miners’ Welfare Trust is currently in discussion with other parties on available funding sources and will continue to keep the football club and members of the public updated on the progress.
“Everyone’s aim is to see football back on the Charlie Wayman Playing Field for the benefit of Chilton residents and we will work hard to achieve this,” said Sue Reece.
Ferryhill & Chilton's local community newspaper.
I recently found out that my dad’s uncle, Charlie, was quiet a footballer back in the day. And he has the Chilton Playing Fields named after him which is lovely to see & read about. I am hoping you can keep me updated on your project, I am sure he would love to know what you guys are doing up there, and I appreciate this too. I never actually met him but my dad, when I was young, used to speak about him when I was growing up. I never was told about Frank Wayman, his brother, being a footballer too. My grandson now plays for Gillingham FC under 16’s & sometimes is picked to play for the under 18’s. He is currently hoping for a scholarship between now & end of the school year. Currently his stats for the Gills are 15 goals and 10 assists in 21 games. I would like to hear more about my great uncle if anyone can help with this I would appreciate it very much.