THORNES JUNIORS FOOTBALL CLUB
Trustees Report 2024-25
The club continues to provide the opportunity and facilities for young people to play association football so as to develop their physical and mental capabilities to enable them to grow into responsible individuals and members of society
Once again we were pleased to report further increases in playing numbers compared to the 2023/24 season by approx. 45 or 13%. In the face of increasing costs in regard to such as winter training costs i.e. using school facilities, the club agreed to increase its annual members subscription level to £170 per person (£10 increase) compared to the previous year. The combination of both these factors saw the club’s income from subscriptions increase by over £11500 compared to the previous year. Despite this small increase in subs levels the club remains competitive compared to other local clubs and we will continue to remain so in the face of the increases in the cost of living that our families are facing. The club remains committed to giving our members value for money whilst attempting to give them the optimum equipment and facilities!
Building on the success of the England Lionesses team since 2021 and the positive message this has sent out for girls football, the club has focussed significant effort on increasing the number of girls playing at our club. During the past year we operated 4 girls teams compared to 3 in the previous year, an increase of 24 in playing numbers. Additionally despite a change in their coaching team, our Ability Counts Team continued to play an important part in our club with a small increase in playing numbers and as in previous years we had the honour of hosting an Ability Counts Gala in May 2025.
As reported in almost every annual report, the weather over the autumn / winter period continues to be a major factor in the number of games we are able to play at our ground. However we were pleased to report that due to drier and milder weather during the 2024/25 season, more games were played. This had a positive impact upon upon our finances where reported income, net of costs, from our tuck shop increased by some £6k compared to the previous season.
The report submitted last year highlighted the club exploring the opportunity to instal an effective drainage system into our pitches. The club decided to put this on hold and consider the opportunity to install an artificial 3G pitch at our ground instead. We will continure to explore the feasibility of such a project into the 2025/26 season with the major issue being our ability to secure the funding required and in particular our own contribution to the project i.e. matched funding.
In a junior football club such as ours the safeguarding of our players is of paramount importance. The past season has seen us refreshing and strengthening our commitment to this by appointing 2 club safeguarding officers onto the club committee and recruiting team safeguarding officers to most of our teams. In addition to making our safeguarding officers more visible particularly at our home ground on match days this has helped to improve behaviour both on and off the pitch.
From a fundraising perspective the club was once again able to hold our annual small-sided football tournament in June 2025. The event was very successful both on and off the pitch where a financial surplus of £5000 was secured as reported in our accounts, the best financial outcome in the club’s history!
Additionally our Christmas raffle supported club funds to the extent of £2500, the best outcome we have had ever!. During the year reported we held 2 car boot sales that contributed an additional £1700 to our finances, we had planned for 3 but 1 was called off due to the weather.
In recognition of the above factors our accounts for the 2024/25 financial year report an increase in our income of £23800 compared to the previous year, but what about expenditure?
Through a combination of an increase in the number of our teams and increases in facility costs (hourly rates), our winter training costs increased by £2800, However as shown in our accounts the biggest increase in costs was £11400 on pitch renovation, this was, however, a deliberate strategy by the club.. Given that we were able to play more games on our pitches through having better weather during the winter and a very dry spring period, our pitches needed more maintenance work during the year and in particular during May and June 2025. Accordingly the club decided it would use some of the increased net income for the year on improving our pitches in preparation for the 2025/26 football season. Some of these costs are met in part by a grant from the Football Foundation for pitch maintenance.
The club was still able to report a small surplus of £4623 for the financial year ending 30 June 2025. The club at its AGM in July reported the accounts for the year once again demonstrating continued robust finances and healthy financial reserves to invest in our future.
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