Ledbury Swifts win Herefordshire's FA Charter Standard Club of the Year award (From Hereford Times)

Ledbury Swifts win Herefordshire's FA Charter Standard Club of the Year award

6:00pm Wednesday 3rd October 2012 in Sport

LEDBURY Swifts were named the FA Charter Standard Club-of-the-Year when Herefordshire FA rewarded clubs, volunteers and unsung heroes of local grassroots football in the annual FA Community awards.

Swifts have developed opportunities for girls over the past 12 months and now boast 15 teams across girls and boys football from u8 to u18 level.

Paul Flitney, of Ross Juniors, won the FA Volunteer-of-the-Year Award.

He has been at the heart of developing opportunities for young people to enjoy their football, as well as encouraging volunteers to support the football club. He has also managed to create three new teams for girls for the new season.

Amy Wright of Hereford Lads Club collected the FA Young Volunteer-of-the-Year Award.

She coaches up to 20 girls at her club on a weekly basis and acted as a Young Ambassador at the HFA Leadership day. She has now clocked up more than 400 hours of volunteering since 2009.

And Amy’s dad Jamie Wright also picked up a prize at the event when he was named FA Coach-of-the-Year.

The Lads Club coach has been a key figure in pushing girl’s football within the county.

He now has more than 100 girls attending regular training sessions and has been helping mentor Football Futures Young Leaders.

For identifying and securing funding for a football field within Withington, Ray Rice, of Withington FC, won the FA Outstanding Contribution to Community Football Award. He went on to help set up a small village boys and girls football club covering grassroots ages of six to 11 years.