Community

Bonnyrigg Rose Community Football Club is as passionate about the work it supports within the Community as the magic that happens on the pitch.

The Club was very proud to have been recognised as ‘Community Football Club of the Year’ by the Sunday Mail / McDonalds at the Scottish Football Association’s 2019 Annual awards. The Club’s General Manager Jim Wilson was also been awarded Volunteer of the Year in 2021 awards.

The club delivers and supports a programme that focusses on Positive Mental Health, Social Inclusion and Positive Destinations. All areas of need identified through consultation.

Our Positive Mental Health Programme sees us work with Health in Mind as a partner organisation. We support various activities Health in Mind offer their clients. We work with Lasswade High School where we have delivered Mental Health Support training for both staff and pupils. We offer free Mental Health First Aid Training (CIPD Course) to anyone in the community that would like to attend and we offer 121 person centred support to those in crisis or just in need of a helping hand. The club is also part of the Scottish Football Association (SFA) advisory panel for mental health.

Inclusion is part of the clubs ethos. Everything we do we try out best to make sure everyone can be included. Based on feedback we were very aware there was a need for social opportunities for our older citizens. To help identify those most in need of company and social interaction we partnered with the Red Cross and the with the support of volunteers we offer a weekly Lunch Club for 15 local older citizens. Not only do they get a home cooked meal, there’s bingo, entertainment and most importantly some social interaction with peers. We’ve had the privilege of celebrating two of our guests 90th birthdays. We also recently hosted a lunch at the club for Ukrainian refugees and their host families.

Positive Destinations sees the club support young people in many ways. As well as the football we run a weekly youth group in partnership with Midlothian Council’s Communities and Life long Learning (CLL) Team. We offer a warm, safe welcoming space for young people that are invited to attend by CLL Team. We offer 121 support for children and young people that might be working through a difficult times in their lives. This will hopefully offer early intervention and result in less anxiety/ stress in later life.

We offer free spaces to our football camps to young people that maybe wouldn’t necessarily be in a position to attend but would really like to join in. We offer employment opportunities for young people. We have had I.T. projects that local High School Students have been involved in. We have young people supporting the caretaking for the site and we encourage and support young people that are interested in coaching football and would like to attain their SFA coaching badges. We offer opportunities to help young adults working though practical tasks as part of gaining qualifications e.g Saltire Awards, Catering Qualifications and Duke of Edinburgh Award.

Within the community programme we try our best to make most things free if we can or as a minimum the option of discounted rates , so there are no barriers for anyone being involved in anything we do.

The Club regularly works in collaboration with the SFA, Midlothian Council’s CLL (Children and adults services), Midlothian Council’s Active Schools Programme, Lasswade High School, Local Faith Groups, Health in Mind, KIC Dance, Police Scotland Community Team, Lady Haig Poppy Factory (supporting Fundraising), Team United (Supporting Autistic Football) as well as other local projects. There’s always something positive going on.

If you have any enquiries about the Clubs Community Programme or would like to get involved in supporting anything mentioned or maybe would have an interest in our future projects which are a Bike Hub, Men’s Shed and Developing and looking after a raised plant beds/plants area, please get in touch – we’d love to hear from you … phone Trish 07834456625 or email Trish@bonnyriggrose.org.uk