THE opening of a new community centre, sports pitches and state-of-the-art play area in Worcester is less than a month away.

The nine-month redevelopment of King George V playing fields and community centre in Brickfields is now close to completion, with an opening date of Thursday, November 20, confirmed by Worcester City Council.

A grand opening event is being planned, with various local luminaries in attendance including Worcester-born Mark Little - who now plays football for Wolverhampton Wanderers - and city Mayor Lucy Hodgson.

The event will include an inter-schools football festival as well as multi-skills coaching by local sports coaches and a football match between local youngsters and the police.

The King George V regeneration project - costing nearly £1 million - has been funded through a combination of grants from the Football Foundation and fundraising among the local community.

The old playing fields and centre have been completely transformed, with new facilities including:

  • A new state-of-the-art community centre equipped with two halls, kitchen and café facilities plus a medical room, office, toilets, and changing rooms
  • Five grass pitches plus a floodlit all-weather synthetic pitch supplied by Hartlebury-based TigerTurf
  • A hi-tech outdoor play area, using solar power and computer and mobile phone technology
  • An outdoor multi-use games area
  • An under-10s play area Angie Rich, community development manager at Worcester City Council, said: “The involvement of the local community who live in Brickfields has been amazing.

“The new community centre is a fabulous resource for the local area and has been built to reflect all their needs. Combined with this are the first-class sporting facilities that will encourage our local children to get involved in activities they have previously had no access to.

“We are delighted with the progress of the project and look forward to it officially opening to the public.”