TRANENT Football Club have outlined plans to offer a range of community activities from the former Army Cadet hut next to the club’s Foresters Park home.

Plans have been lodged with East Lothian Council to renovate the hut into a sports community hub, where the club could provide a range of services.

The Lowland League side said that the hub would provide a space for sports groups and lunch clubs to meet.

It was also hoped that the hub would increase matchday revenue opportunities by providing an area to sell tea and coffee and offer other matchday hospitality.

The club intends to run a range of fundraising events to help with the cost of renovating the building.

'A great thing for the community'

A Tranent FC spokesperson said: “Tranent Football Club are in the process of inheriting the old cadet hut at Foresters. Our intention will be to renovate and enhance the whole property to create a Tranent Sports Community Hub.

“The purpose of this hub would be for multiple reasons.

“It will provide a base for various community sports groups to hold meetings and/or education events; provide a base for various community support groups specifically aimed at low-income families, such as a community food kitchen or lunch clubs, providing free meals and drinks alongside activity and wellbeing sessions; and provide education facilities for the whole community football club for coaches, players and parents.

“It will also grant the ability to provide teas and coffees for the watching public at youth football training and matches and enhance matchday revenue streams for the senior team using the unit for the provision of hospitality.

“A number of fundraising events will be organised to help towards the costs of creating the community hub.”

Councillor Lee-Anne Menzies, ward member for the area and member of Tranent FC’s 1911 Supporters Club, said: “I think this is a great thing for the community and is another example of things being done the right way.

“As a community, we should be sharing buildings like this one and, if Tranent can make some money out of it too, then that’s great for the club.

“The club have been doing a lot to engage with the community and I hope this continues.”