Youngs park

Former Norwich City manager, Nigel Worthington, current captain, Russell Martin and England rugby stars, Ben and Tom Youngs, officially opened the Youngs Park sports facility in May 2016, following a six month test and learn following an original opening in November 15.  

All four individuals have strong links with sport in Aylsham and Norfolk. Nigel and Russell have given a number of years’ service to the Canaries. For the Youngs brothers it was a particularly personal event as the land on which the sporting development has been created was once part of their family farm – hence the name Youngs Park.

The Youngs family kindly supported the project throughout, gifting 20 acres and £500,000 as part of a wider housing development agreement.  Thanks to Norfolk FA, grants totalling £385,728 were received from the Premier League & The FA Facilities Fund, with additional funds secured through the Football Stadia Improvement Fund (£50k), Sport England’s Protected Playing Fields (£50K) and a range of smaller grants through Aylsham Town Council, Broadland District Council and the Geoffrey Watling Fund.  Aylsham FC also raised over £45k to support the project phase and first year of opening.           

The new sports facility comprises a Community Building which features 4 main changing rooms, 2 official’s changing rooms, a large function room with bar, kitchen plus 11 grass pitches (main pitch floodlit) and 120 space car park.

Having been spread around various sites for many years, Aylsham FC teams now have one home for their 25 teams in this state-of-the-art facility, which also creates legacy for the whole community, sharing Youngs Park with a number of local clubs and businesses including Karate, Aerobics and Yoga and Slimmer’s World.  We even host Norwich City Under 18 and Under 21 matches.  The community building is also available to hire by families and local businesses.    

The facility is the result of 8 years of planning between Aylsham FC, The Youngs Community Sports Trust and Norfolk FA to deliver a football and sports facility for the Town. The Youngs Park team (all volunteers) who run the facility are proud of what they have achieved, but equally have plans to ensure the business is sustainable and continues to evolve for the benefit of future generations.