Buy a brick for the Crosshill THistle

Dec 18 2009 by Edwin Lawrence, Ayrshire Post (main ed)

A VILLAGE football team has fallen tantalisingly short of the funding it needs to build a pavilion.

But officials at Crosshill Thistle have come up with a novel idea to make up the difference.

And the club will sell bricks at £35 each, to make sure the great new facility gets built.

But these are no ordinary bricks – for they will be individually engraved.

And the club will create a kind of ‘wall of fame’ at the entrance to the pavilion.

Thistle will themselves start the ball rolling by buying 12 bricks.

One will say Scottish Cup Winners 1959, and the other 11 will bear the names of the renowned team members.

“We hope a lot of our other ex-players might want to buy a brick,” said club secretary David McDowall.

“And businesses where Crosshill people work have indicated they will support us,” he added.

Crosshill Thistle have worked for years on getting grants for a pavilion.

And they have £110,000 in the bank for the project.

But extra building costs have pushed the project total up.

And Mr McDowall aims to sell 300 bricks by a January 19 deadline.

“We hope people will see it as nice kind of legacy for the club,” he said.

“People are welcome to mark their silver or golden weddings, birthdays, or any anniversary they like.

“The bricks will have an honoured place on the external wall of the pavilion, for everyone to see.”

Each brick can have one or two lines of letters – with up to 16 characters per line.

Mr McDowall says work on the new pavilion will start before the end of the year.

And if all goes well it will be ready by the end of April.

The 15 by 10 metre pavilion will feature two changing rooms, with showers; referee changing room, with shower; girls’ changing room, with showers; a committee room, and a disabled toilet.

It will be made available for Crosshill Primary and wider community use.

Anyone interested in buying a brick should contact David McDowall at 18 Carrick Drive, Crosshill, or telephone 01655 740426 or 07977 582123.