New Club House for Soccer Association

By Doug Gallant

The Guardian
Sept 4, 2002

Stratford will witness a good old-fashioned building bee this weekend when members of the Stratford Soccer Association attempt to erect an 1,800 square-foot clubhouse on land adjacent to two existing soccer fields behind the Stratford Business Park.

Terry Hogan, a member of the building committee recruited by association president Don Gillis, says construction of the building will start about 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 7, and will continue throughout the day.

We hope to have the shell of the building completed by about 6 p.m, Hogan said. "That's walls up, roof on, doors and windows in and siding on. And we hope to have our fixtures installed as well. It won't be ready to move into that day, there will be other finish work to do, but the shell of the building will be up."

Assisting the association with this project will be a group of employees from Southport Home Hardware.

They're going to provide much of the building expertise on this project, Hogan said. Their support with this project is very much appreciated. We expect to have about 40 people working on the clubhouse and Southport Home Hardware will account for half of that number. We're also recruiting a number of soccer parents to help too. The construction of the clubhouse, which will be built utilizing prefab partitions, is expected to enhance the association's ability to attract and host tournaments.

Hogan said planning is already underway for a third field which they hope to see completed next year.

In conjunction with the building bee, the association plans to conduct some fund-raising activities on site so the public is being encouraged to drop down and observe the clubhouse take shape.

"We're hoping to see some real community spirit down there," Hogan said. Funding to build the clubhouse came from the province, the municipality of Stratford and the association itself. Further fund-raising efforts are planned as the project evolves. We expect this project will gain momentum and likely take on a life of its own.