Helping Mellor begin the next 100 years
Next year, Mellor Lacrosse Club (founded in 1925) celebrates 100 years of lacrosse. Remarkably, for a small village community based on the Cheshire/Derbyshire border, it has enjoyed great success over these years, winning North of England and National titles, and produced a number of players who have gone on to represent England, Scotland & Wales.
Historically, the club has benefitted from successive generations of their lacrosse-playing families, along with its links with the nearby primary school which prompted other local young people to take up the sport.
About eight years ago, the club decided to expand its junior programme to increase involvement from a wider geographical area. The club junior programme has developed each year, and now has over 160 children participating in their junior teams. It welcomes players from eleven primary schools across the local area including Marple, Romiley and New Mills.
As Club President Martin Mochan told TLF:
“This expansion has seen the club grow into a truly inclusive place to play sport. We want to continue this development and ensure we can safely equip all new players as they start their journey into lacrosse. For years, we have facilitated this through donated equipment which was often ill-fitting or damaged, but the safety of participating junior players has become imperative. Whilst we have always aimed to be self-sufficient, we are facing tougher financial times and higher equipment costs”.
Mellor’s programme includes boys and girls age-group teams starting from U8/U9 all the way up to U16/U18, and their grant application to TLF focused on support for the youngest age-group to ensure these new players had access to age-appropriate equipment.
A grant of £7800 was approved, which provided 30 sticks, 15 helmets, 15 pairs of goggles, 15 sets of elbow pads, 3 sets of goalie kit, 4 goals, plus cones, training bibs, and goal targets. These were all gratefully received by the club, and enthusiastically used by the young boys and girls ready for the new 2024/25 season.
As Martin Mochan concluded:
“Having this support from TLF has been hugely beneficial to our junior programme. This now acts as a springboard to grow our development programme and attract even more children to the game. Our Sunday sessions now see over 120 boys and girls learning and playing the game, and with the right equipment and the right sizing we've already seen a dramatic improvement from our newest players".