CAMPUS Whitehaven is the multi-million-pound, state-of-the-art education and community facility which brings together St Benedict’s Catholic High School and Mayfield School.
As part of the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority’s (NDA) commitment to leaving behind a positive legacy, it is proud to invest in the communities surrounding its sites. Along with Sellafield, they provided £25.1 million of funding, making the project their largest single socio-economic investment.
As the Campus celebrates its fifth anniversary, we look at some of the people who have benefitted from the facility.
WHEN Head Coach, Scott Benbow, took on the Football Fun Factory in 2021, he knew he needed an environment to train where young people could be safe, comfortable, and able to perform at their best.
It had to be somewhere well known in the community, which was accessible and open to all and most importantly, become a super charged learning environment for him to help young people get inspired by football.
The Football Fun Factory is a national franchise providing children aged 18 months to 12 years old, of all ability levels, with experiences that use football as a vehicle for child development, whilst at the root of it all, having fun.
Scott said: “It was absolute baby steps to begin with. I started off with just one class at Campus Whitehaven, running on Friday afternoons with just 40 children. Since then, I have now increased to three classes here a week, with up to 100 children in attendance.”
Scott’s ethos when coaching is simple: getting children to be passionate. To him, he is motivated to use football as a way of aiding children’s development, teaching them positive conflict resolution, using positive language and integration with others from all walks of life.
Lisa Thomason, whose twins Molly and Finlay, attend Scott’s classes, said: “We’ve been coming here for over three months now and since then, I’ve definitely seen a change in the two of them. They’re more talkative and outgoing. Beforehand, they wouldn’t have gotten involved the way that they do now. It’s fantastic to see.”
The success of the Football Fun Factory has seen Scott increase his classes into Workington, as well as running birthday parties and holiday camps, which supports the Holiday, Activity and Food (HAF) programme through Cumberland Council, providing free activities to low income families during the Easter, summer and winter holidays funded by the Department for Education.
And when it comes to Campus Whitehaven, Scott couldn’t be happier: “The Campus is a fantastic facility to run our classes. It provides an accessible, open, and safe environment for us to thrive in and has allowed the children from all backgrounds to develop in.
"The staff here are collaborative, supportive and the kids love coming here. I’m even supported by two students from St Benedict’s in my classes.”
If you’d like to find out more about the Football Fun Factory, you can email Scott on scott@thefootballfunfactory.co.uk
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here