An exciting new chapter has begun for March Town Football Club with the news that they have secured the funding they need to build a clubhouse on the ground.

Work will begin next month and the clubhouse, which will be available for the whole community to use, should be open in time for the start of the next football season in August.

To finance the £215,000 project, the club has secured £100,000 from The Football Stadia Improvement Fund, who are supporters of the Football Foundation and the largest funder of non-league football in the country.

They have also been allocated a grant of £69,150 from WREN and FCC Environment.

WREN award grants under the Landfill Communities Fund Scheme, and receives its funding from FCC Environmental who operate the landfill site just north of March.

At the moment, despite having 10 teams including men’s, women’s and junior outfits, the club has no clubhouse.

The clubhouse will enable both players and supporters to have somewhere warm to go and enjoy a hot drink, socialise and offer hospitality to away teams and their supporters.

It will allow supporters to have decent toilet facilities and there will be decent changing rooms for teams and officials.

It will offer disabled facilities and make March Town at the centre of and an integral part of the community.

Vice chairman Gerry Roe said: “This will make a massive difference to the club, players and supporters.

“The current facilities at the ground are dire. We have one toilet for all the supporters and no where to keep warm on a cold and wet day.

“The clubhouse will encourage more young people to come and play football and be part of the club.

“We exist for the purpose of allowing young people to participate in football, to encourage friendship and to allow the not so young to have somewhere to meet and hold events.”

The re-development, which secures the club’s status at Step 6 in the National League System, has been welcomed by Cambs FA.

Joe Goude, county development manager at Cambs FA, said: “I’m delighted that the club have been able to secure the remaining funds that allow them to begin work on their new clubhouse.

“Since 2002, we have helped deliver over £3million worth of facility projects in Fenland with £1.5million coming from the Football Foundation, and this investment has made a significant impact to the local area.”

Mark Liddiard, the FA’s regional facilities and investment manager, added: “March has been identified as needing additional investment to improve the football provision in the town.

“This new clubhouse represents a milestone to engage with key partners across the district to develop the right plan that could provide March with the football facilities it deserves.”