A football club with more than 650 youth members, and a growing waiting list, is desperate to secure its own training ground to help more children amid rising mental health issues due to the pandemic.

Bedwell Rangers FC in Stevenage was founded in 1959 and has been coaching children aged five to 18 ever since. The club also has a ladies team and provides coaching to people with physical disabilities and special educational needs.

However, the football club does not have a home of its own, instead offering training at school pitches - Marriotts and Nobel in Stevenage and Round Diamond in Great Ashby.

The club's chairman, Neil Finch, said: “With over 650 children currently participating in the club and more on waiting lists, Bedwell Rangers are at a point where we are struggling for locations to train, and capacity to take on more children who are desperate to get involved.

"Children have endured an incredibly tough year with the pandemic. Mental health issues are on the rise and we feel it is vital, now more than ever, that we can secure facilities that will allow Bedwell Rangers to help more children.”

Stevenage MP Stephen McPartland has met with Neil to discuss how they can work together to secure a permanent home in Stevenage for the club and a new 3G pitch, which can be used all year round.

Stephen said “The Football Association has stated that Stevenage is three pitches short of 3G pitches and, at £750,000 a pitch, they do not come cheap.

"We have established a taskforce to find the club a permanent home and will be asking Stevenage Borough Council to join us. We are keen to work with them to help find a permanent home and also put a bid into the Government’s Levelling Up Fund to pay for a new 3G pitch.

"By working together, we can build a base for Bedwell Rangers that will allow us to access funding from a variety of sources and help support more children.

"I will be working closely with Neil and the team at Bedwell Rangers and contacting Stevenage Borough Council to work on the bid too.”

The Comet has contacted Stevenage Borough Council for comment.