Kirk Deighton Junior Football Club, which has more than 200 members aged six to 16 years, needs to raise thousands of pounds to buy the steel unit which will provide it with secure changing rooms, showers, toilets and kitchen facilities.

The club, on Loshpot Lane, Kirk Deighton, has not been able to offer its young members any changing facilities for nearly five years after its previous ones were subjected to a constant barrage of vandalism and arson attacks, ending in them being burnt down.

As a result local youngsters, who play on the three acre ground every weekend during the football season, have to either leave their kit at the edge of the field or use facilities at Deighton Gates Primary School when possible.

Kirk Deighton chairman, Rod Clifton, said: “I am determined to get something built on the ground for the start of the season because at the moment we have absolutely nothing.

“We have been in this sort of state for such a long time now and it’s soul destroying but we’re determined to get this thing built and get it sorted out. It’s what all our young members deserve.”

Wetherby Solicitors, HartLaw LLP, the official sponsor of the club, is currently helping the club apply for charitable status which, if granted, would open up a whole host of new funding avenues.

The firm is also helping the club look at the possibility of owning its own training ground which would then enable it to secure Football Association (FA) grants.

Mr Clifton said: “We have got a development fund which we can use to put these steel buildings up but we still need an awful lot more money if we’re to make sure the facility is protected from vandals. It’s very isolated up there.”

l If anyone else can make a donation to the club however big or small contact the Wetherby News on 01937 582663.

susannah.berry@ypn.co.uk