News

Pictured above. Frank Maclachlan, (General Secretary) Gary Bostock (Team Manager) Nigel Lee (Programme Editor) Gary Johnson (Castleford FA Rep) Barry Bennett (Chairman) Barry Chaplin (WRCFA Rep) Stuart Jackson (Committee) Nadine Holt ( Committee) Mick Jacobson (Physio) Mick Slater (Committee)

The criteria to become a Charter Standard club is :-

A written constitution.

Child Protection, Self-Certification of managers and Officials

Managers to have a minimum FA Level 1 coaches certificate.

Commitment to attend in-service training

Acceptance and promotion of codes of conduct.

The most important benefit of becoming a Charter Standard Club is to show that you are serious about, raising standards, improving facilities, coaching, First Aid and Child Protection.

Trish Slater.

Trish Slater was introduced to local football by future husband Mick way back in the late 1960s. She spent many evenings and weekends standing on the touchline in Pontefract Park supporting the many teams Mick was involved in, including Shamrock Rovers, Felco, Golden Lion and Woodman FC. The winters seemed a lot colder then and footballers had to be dragged off the pitch when blizzards stopped play!

In the mid 70s through to 1987 the Slater washing machine groaned under the mountain of football kit finding its way through its wash cycle and Trish started to help out with recording collection of subs and other admin tasks.

In 1987 Fr Lister of St Joseph’s Church in Pontefract called a meeting of parishioners to invite interested parties to form a football team for the children attending St Joseph’s School and other youngsters in the local area. Mick and a couple of other parishioners stepped up and agreed to have a go. Trish volunteered to help out with the usual subs collection and paperwork. What started as one team playing friendly football snowballed into the club it is today having mini-soccer, girls and boys teams at various ages. Trish was Treasurer for the club, booked pitches for all age groups, helped organise the annual small sided tournament in Pontefract Park and continued to wash kit for her son Steve’s team from U11s to U16s age group until she handed over the reins to support him when he joined Pontefract Collieries first team at 16 years of age. Up until a couple of years ago, she joined the present St Joseph’s committee members at Pontefract Rugby Club to help out with scoring at their Annual 6 a-side competition each July and at present is one of two Trustees named on the club’s Charter Standard documentation.

Pontefract Collieries gave Mick and Trish a much bigger challenge which they both enjoyed for 11 years, Mick eventually being elected Chairman and Trish giving admin support to the secretary, Frank, and Treasurer Stewart. The admin for the junior section of the club was looked after by Trish. She also took charge of restocking the clubhouse bar, recording takings and helped with catering for visiting team officials amongst many other necessary duties. The Castleford and District FA always received a warm welcome and half time refreshments at their cup games held at Skinner Lane over the years. In the closed season Trish would be found giving the changing rooms a lick of paint, cleaning in the clubhouse or weeding around the pitch. 2005 saw Trish submitting an application for Charter Standard and Pontefract Collieries achieved Adult Charter Standard status in April of that year.

The Castleford & District Minor Cup team played their home games at Pontefract Collieries ground and it was inevitable that, as Mick was joint manager with Steve Lloyd, Trish had the job of looking after the kit and catering.

In April 2008 Trish left Pontefract Collieries (followed by Mick and other members of the committee) and was asked to assist Glasshoughton Welfare FC to put together a Charter Standard application for the club. This application is well under way and Trish is enjoying a bit more free time than she has experienced in the past few years, which is just as well as she and Mick become first time grandparents when daughter Sarah and husband Tony saw the safe arrival of baby Emily Olivia in October last year.

The last 25 or more years have seen many changes in local football and Trish has enjoyed 99.9% of that time. She is looking forward to the new challenges at Glasshoughton and will continue to support local football to the best of her ability.

Jim Murray

Jim came down from his native North East in 1960 and has been associated with one team, Featherstone Colliery. Formally known as Ackton Hall Colliery and Featherstone FC. Throughout 40 years Jim has been Chairman and team manager for teams in the Pontefract League, Castleford Sunday League and the West Yorkshire League. Both his sons Andrew and Stuart played for Featherstone Colliery for over 20 years.

In 1993 Featherstone Colliery started a junior team which run until 2007, Jim assisted by becoming Chairman of Featherstone Juniors.

Jim finally accepted an invitation to join the Castleford FA in 1994 after being asked on numerous occasions over many years. His love for the game and the dedication he has to Featherstone Colliery and grassroots football was the reason for the invitation.

Jim is very active with the District FA and still enjoys watching football, especially when his two grandsons are playing. He has enjoyed seeing players progress from the juniors to the seniors.

Eric Jones

More to follow