TIPTREE Heath FC are on the comeback trail and have launched a £10,000 appeal to bring the football club back to the village as a community sports hub, writes JON LONGMAN.

The oldest football club in Tiptree celebrates its 100 years since its founding in 1923 and the committee hopes to have their Century Club Project ‘We’re coming home!’ up and running at the Colchester Road site during 2023.

The Heath revealed their plans last summer and have now gone one stage further by creating a blueprint for the community project that will be available seven days a week.

The blueprint outlines Heath’s hopes of creating a 3G stadium pitch, a mini-soccer surface, a clubhouse and associated facilities that can play host to senior, youth and women’s teams.

Brett Newland, Tiptree Heath’s chairman, admits it is major challenge for the successful Border League club that has been playing all its games away from home at Tolleshunt Knights and beyond since being reformed in 2015.

Newland says: “We are excited about the opportunity for Tiptree Heath FC to return to the village, and to progress our project for regenerating the Colchester Road site for Community use.

“We are looking for financial support to make this happen and any donations to our Just Giving Fund would be gratefully received’

Heath’s ambitions to regenerate the overgrown Colchester Road Site for community use has seen the club stage a variety of events including a very happy reunion for former Heath players.

Peter Tanton, the committee member responsible for fundraising, launched the Just Giving website page this week but notes that the Heath needs to put cash in the bank and then sign on the dotted line before the first spade can be wielded to signal the start of a major clearance effort at the site.

Tanton says: “The key for us to unlock the site and begin work on the Centenary Club Project is to raise sufficient funds to pay Tiptree Parish Council’s legal fees that will allow regeneration of the site to begin.

“We have raised money through sponsorship and fund raising activities but the pandemic has had a huge financial impact on local businesses, many of whom are our potential sponsors, and that has impeded our progress.

“Any support we can generate would be greatly appreciated and we are most grateful for the offers of help in kind that have been promised once we can gain access to the site.”

The Heath’s Just Giving Crowdfunding page to Help raise £10000 to help Tiptree Heath FC return to Colchester Road can be found at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/tiptree-heath-fc