The lights are up at Common

Three pylons were put up on either side of the Recreation Ground pitch. Common can use the lights between September and April six times per month and on Saturdays.

The floodlights are part of the club’s £68,172 development project which also included the 50-seater stand that was installed in May and a pathway from the changing rooms to the pitch which was laid before the end of last season.

Half of the funding for the project came via a grant of £34,086 from The Football Stadia Improvement Fund (FSIF), supporters of the Football Foundation, and the largest funder of non-league football in the country.

Common also secured £22,000 of Olympic legacy funding from Sport England’s Inspired Facilities Fund, which is part of the £135million Places People Play legacy programme that is bringing the magic of a home Olympic and Paralympic Games into communities across the country.

The remaining shortfall has been met with club funds and Common have also received support from the Old Town

Preservation Society, for which they are extremely grateful.

The project will help ensure that the club complies with the step six ground grading requirements, as well as enabling the continual development of opportunities for its ever-growing membership.

Planning permission to install floodlights and a spectator stand at the Recreation Ground was granted back in January 2010 despite opposition from a number of local residents.

See Friday’s Bexhill Observer for the full article.