YOUNG footballers from Holmes Chapel are no longer using jumpers for goalposts after receiving a donation of £1,000 to buy new equipment.

The Holmes Chapel Hurricanes under 12s team received the grant from the Chester-based MBNA foundation, and used the money to buy six portable goal posts for the team.

Simon Lincoln, joint manager said: “The grant has made a huge difference to team morale and we have been using the goalposts at training every week.

“All the boys were overwhelmed when they saw the goals and it’s much easier to train champions with the latest equipment - they’re now working towards being the Messi or Ronaldo of Holmes Chapel!”

Meriel Holmes, business analyst at MBNA, applied for the donation on behalf of the Hurricanes, as part of the MBNA Foundation’s £90,000 investment into community projects in 2014.

She said: “The team don’t have their own training ground and have been practicing at a local school so this is the first step towards new facilities.

“The coaches encourage values like teamwork and fairness so it’s a great club for youngsters to be part of. They’re at the age where they are learning life skills on a day-to-day basis and hopefully these can be taken from the field and applied to other areas of their lives.”