Join Torquay United on Christmas day

The players and staff of Torquay United are making sure nobody is alone this Christmas.

The Plainmoor football club is throwing open its doors to the South Devon community on Christmas Day for the first time in five years.

New owners, the Bryn Consortium, have made putting the Gulls at the heart of the Bay's community one of their main goals since taking over at the helm earlier this year.

Now the football club has decided to open its Boots and Laces sports bar venue at its Plainmoor stadium between 11am and 3pm on Christmas Day and offer free mince pies and sausage rolls to guests.

Co-chairman Michael Westcott said: “Christmas Day can be a difficult time for many across our community and a frighteningly high number of people often spend it alone. We feel strongly that nobody should be alone who doesn't want to be.”

Torquay players who live in the Gulls Lodge at Plainmoor Stadium will also join the United staff to greet guests and help out on December 25 ahead of their Boxing Day trip to Weymouth.

Mark Bowes-Cavanagh, co-chairman, said: “This was the brilliant idea of our staff who have volunteered to come in on Christmas Day to make anyone who wants to pop in, feel warmly welcome.  

“Torquay United is more than a football club, we’re an important community asset which brings thousands together, and so this feels like the right and natural thing to do.”

United are on a high on the field as they go into the busy and crucial Christmas and New Year period sitting at the top of the National League South table after their 2-0 victory against Farnborough at Plainmoor in front of more than 3,000 fans at the weekend.

As part of a  community-focussed future, the new owners have formed a new relationship with the Torquay United Supporters Trust who raised a staggering near £250,000 through a community shares issue which has given them two seats on the board.

TUST chairman Nick Brodrick and Danni Wyatt, Torquay United women's team captain and United's 'Her Game Too' national campaign representative, are now directors.

Nick said of the partnership since the Bryn Consortium takeover: “There are so many superlatives about it. It is like a dream come true.

“It is amazing that we are helping to run a football club. It is a huge responsibility and we know there will be times when things will not go as well as we would like them to go, but we have fantastic support. The crowds are fantastic and community issues are very much at the heart of what TUST stands for.

“The feel-good factor of supporting Torquay United has returned since the takeover. On match days you see smiling faces coming into the ground and, regardless of the result, you see smiling faces leave the ground.”

Nick paid particular tribute to the fans and volunteers who answered the Paint Up Plainmoor plea during the summer and even now are carrying out various odd jobs around Plainmoor. 

“It has been a fantastic community response,” he said.