Blackpool’s Community Trust ‘a place of hope’ for locals says chief executive

Blackpool’s Community Trust has become “a place of hope” for local families, its chief executive has said.

The on-field fortunes of clubs may fluctuate, but consistently club community organisations (CCOs) throughout the EFL are proving to be a lifeline.

The Seasiders’ own Trust has helped people with serious mental health problems back from the brink, reached out to the loneliest in the community at Christmas, steered young people at risk of exclusion from education down a better path and provided warmth and meals to those struggling most in the cost-of-living crisis.

“The work that’s going on within the communities is still probably football’s biggest secret,” Trust chief executive Ashley Hackett told the PA news agency.

“The impact is enormous, and I don’t think there’s another network that has the reach that the CCO network has.

“Everything that can be done to protect it, and everything that can be done to empower it to help more people, needs to be considered and done.”

The continued sustainability of clubs will be the overriding goal of football’s independent regulator – and is about so much more than simply preserving what happens on the pitch 46 times a season.

The social impact value of Blackpool’s Community Trust came in at almost £23million in its most recent report.

This value includes estimated savings to public spending, plus other social value generated in areas such as physical and mental health, education, and employment.

Monday marks the start of the EFL’s latest ‘Week of Action’, highlighting the valuable work of its CCOs.

Asked why community trusts had such incredible reach, Hackett said: “A football club is something that an awful lot of households see as a place of hope, a place of positivity, that they connect with.

“We’re not making the Government decisions. What we’re hopefully doing is supporting Government to empower these people. We’re just seen as a friendly face, we support and we link in.

“There isn’t really anything else that’s got that same relatability to it.”

That relatability of Blackpool’s Trust enables it to connect, through mentors, to children in high school to help keep them in mainstream provision. To some children in Years 10 and 11, including those at risk of exclusion, it offers the independent BFC School at Bloomfield Road as an alternative to the mainstream.

“Where we’re being really proactive is we’re stopping young people becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training),” Hackett said.

“We’re making sure we’re keeping them in a form of education and towards an end goal of working and looking after themselves as they move forward, and not following that trait in becoming inactive and therefore a cost to those public services in the future.”

The Blackpool FC Sports College – also at Bloomfield Road – works with 16 and 17-year-olds for whom the traditional college environment might not appeal.

Starting this season, it is offering a course focused on Esports.

“It’s about looking at how you can develop yourself a career within the gaming world, within coding, within all the spectrum that’s available,” Hackett said.

“It’s a massive, growing market. We use gaming as the hook to try and get young people engaged in a positive, positive education programme.”

The Trust also has an incredible track record of paying forward. Hackett said 15 per cent of those studying at the college have gone on to join the Trust workforce.

“It’s an honour that you’re able to support those individuals to empower themselves, to improve their lives, and then get to the point where they link in and support others is really, really rewarding,” Hackett said.

One especially memorable example is the story of Marianna Mitchell, who was discharged from the Royal Army Medical Corps in 2002 with post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

She has been involved with the Trust since 2016, first as a participant in coffee mornings and in work to maintain a memorial arboretum in nearby Fylde. She now volunteers herself to support other ex-service personnel.

“I live with PTSD and have, in the past, been suicidal but with the help of the Trust, I’m still here,” she said.

Families can also access food parcels at the stadium, as well as access warm spaces at the stadium to spend a few hours to help them with their own energy bills.

Trust volunteers also visited 30 individuals last Christmas Day who would otherwise have spent it completely alone.

“We knock on the door, go and spend a bit of time with them and take them a couple of gifts round,” Hackett said.

“It’s just unbelievable that we have people that are willing to give up that time on such a family-focused day to come and engage with those people who aren’t as lucky as the rest of us.”