On December 7, Alan Somerville, senior development officer of Cunninghame Housing Association, presented the cheques to Philip Jones, who is a voluntary committee member of the Black & Gold Foundation and to primary 1 and 2 school children at Newington Primary School.

The Black & Gold Foundation is the charitable arm of Annan Athletic Club and is run by a voluntary committee. The charitable objectives of the Foundation are the advancement of public participation in sport; the provision of opportunities and educational advancement to ensure lifelong involvement for all members of the community; the provision of recreational and sporting facilities with the aim of improving health, wellbeing and skills for all.

The funds provided by Cunninghame Housing Association will assist with the refurbishment of the outdoor Multi-Use Games Area which is vital to enable the Foundation to continue the work that they do.

Through collaboration and strong partnerships with Active Schools & Community Sport, Disability Sports, Back Onside, Scottish Football Partnership Trust and many more, the refurbished MUGA will continue to change lives and promote the health and wellbeing of people of all ages in the community for years to come.

Brian Jardine, trustee, Black & Gold Foundation, said: “We are over the moon with the generous donation from Cunninghame Housing Association. Our refurbished MUGA will be a great asset in our local area.

“We have worked hard over many years to establish strong and meaningful partnerships with a wide range of groups and organisations both locally and nationally to enable us to fulfil our aspirations of promoting the health and wellbeing of our local community, making a positive difference to the lives of children and their families and becoming a cornerstone of our local area. Thank you for supporting us to continue to build relationships which have the power to positively change lives.”

Newington Primary School’s Deputy Head Teacher, applied to Cunninghame Housing Association for funding to assist with their project which consisted of developing an area within the Primary 1 and 2 playground which promotes outdoor play. This will enable children to develop necessary skills which are vital for life-long learning. Due to ongoing covid restrictions, the school expressed the importance of the development and health & wellbeing of children to build their language and maths skills, fine motor and gross motor skills, creativity, resilience and problem-solving skills whilst being active at school and in a safe environment.

Mrs Ferguson, deputy headteacher, added: “We cannot thank Cunninghame Housing Association enough for their kind donation to enhance our outdoor area. The children are thoroughly enjoying this outdoor learning space which has been equipped with fantastic learning resources chosen by the teachers and pupils within Primary One and Two.”

The funding came from the Association’s ‘Making Our Communities a Better Place Fund”’ which operates throughout the year (1st April 2021 to 31st March 2022) until the allocated funding is exhausted.