Forres Local

Forres youngsters as young as four are flocking to a club that teaches them discipline, teamwork and gets them out of the house in all weathers.

Forres Soccer 7s is expected to break through the 200-member mark this year and could beat its all-time record, as the club continues to grow with its simple approach to getting kids motivated, disciplined and fit.

The club’s motto is simple, it makes football accessible to boys and girls of all ages. It meets on Sunday every week during school term and plays in Grant Park from 10am to 1pm.

Treasurer Tommy Smith said the main benefit is being part of a team, and discipline on the park.

“This may be the first organised team sport they do. Starting at age four they could go right the way through to 12 or 13. It might be the first time they get into a team with a coach.”

Volunteers

There’s no paid staff at Soccer 7s. There are nine board members and 20-25 coaches, and all are volunteers. Many of them are involved because their kids were part of it, but some have stayed on after their young ones have left.

The club is structured into three main sections, Development Fours which is ages four to six, Super Fives which is seven to nine-year-olds and Junior 7s which is for ages 10 to 12.

“We’ve got 190 kids playing this year. Last year, we broke the 200 mark and hopefully by the end of the season we’ll have the highest intake in our 26-year history,” added Tommy.

Forres woman Cassie Smith said her two sons, Olly (6) and Lucas (9), are really committed to coming every week.

“Lucas is in Junior Fives and has been coming for the last five years. Olly has just started in Development Fours. It’s a really good club, really supportive and the training’s really good,” she said.

Sponsors’ day

The club held a sponsors’ day on Sunday 1 September to allow local businesses who support the charity to get a photo with their team and see what goes on every Sunday.

Sponsors include the town’s Highland League team Forres Mechanics, who support the very youngest members.

“It’s a tiny contribution considering all the effort that all the volunteer coaches and parents are making.

“It’s just an absolute delight to see all the kids getting organised sport, encouraged to be disciplined and improve what they’ve got.

“Some of these boys and girls will play for the Mechanics one day, but that’s not the object of this exercise, it’s giving them organised football and I think the volunteers do a wonderful job.”

The Forres area is the best place in Scotland to grow plums, apples and other fruit and veg according to the project manager of a local food scheme.

Pam Rodway is working with Connect Local Food Fund to set up ‘Forres Feast’ with Forres Food Producers, a local group of organic horticulturists.

Forres Feast is a weekly pop-up shop which is open on the high street every Saturday until the end of October and will culminate in a feast, as the name suggests of locally produced food.

She said: “The Forres Area has a tradition of walled gardens and orchards and with the wonderful soil of the Laich of Moray, it’s a benign climate that is very well-suited to horticulture.

“The area has for a long time had projects that link local people with local food.”

The group of six local growers have been working together to manage supply and demand and have outlets in Forres and online, such as The Bakehouse and the Phoenix Shop in Findhorn, and online through Roots, Fruits and Leaves and the Elgin Food Hub. 

Pam explained that the growing and distribution of local food can also provide a lot of other benefits in the community.

“Buying from small scale producers is something that the Scottish Government is now promoting. They visited the area and are now writing a report for the Royal Society of Arts in Scotland on how local growers can contribute to the health and wellbeing of the local community by keeping it small and local,” she added.

Pam has travelled to Haddington in the Central Belt to meet with a well-established group of organic horticulturalists to discuss issues such as the finances of selling on a micro-scale to local people.

The pop-up shop is open every Saturday at 86 High Street from 10am to 2pm.

The ‘Forres Feast’ will take place on 5 October in the Town Hall, and will comprise of a three-course meal of local, seasonal food prepared by local chefs Rob McKenna and Brett Mather. More details can be found on Facebook.