New community facilities open at The Nest

The Norwich City Community Sports Foundation has officially opened a new retail space and health and wellbeing facility at The Nest near Hellesdon.

GRAND OPENING: Staff and guests celebrate the opening of The Store and The Box.

Partners of The Nest and local dignitaries were invited to join participants from the Foundation’s Realising Potential programme, plus Norwich City’s first-team coach Jack Wilshere and the head of goalkeeping, Tony Roberts, at the opening ceremony of The Store and The Box.

The Nest is a 22-acre site close to Norwich International Airport with a range of facilities including two floodlit 3G pitches, high-quality grass football pitches, residential bunk boxes, a cafe and conference and event spaces.

Jackie Thornton, Director of Strategy and Development at the Foundation said: “The Store and The Box represent two major steps forward in our mission to make sport and wellbeing accessible to all. “The Store will support the Foundation’s sustainability initiatives by offering a selection of second-hand sports gear and equipment across multiple sports as well as Foundation kit and Run Norwich merchandise.

“Every purchase will support the Foundation’s life changing work within the local community. And, with the addition of our new space The Box, we will now be able to increase that work in Norfolk even further. Built thanks to a generous grant from the Geoffrey Watling Charity, The Box is a new communal space, highly flexible in its design. Equipped with state-of-the-art interactive and adaptive equipment, The Box can act as a fitness centre, classroom or community hub as needed and will allow us to expand our operations within the community significantly.”

Alan Watling, trustee of The Geoffrey Watling Charity, said: “We are immensely proud to have enabled the Foundation to realise their ambitions with The Box. “It is a truly inclusive space that will have a meaningful and lasting impact on the community.”

Visit thenest.org for further information about the Foundation. The Store is looking for donations of sportswear and equipment.