Wisbech Town continue to be humbled by donations from the football fraternity after Storm Ciara reduced one their stands to a mass of buckled and mangled metal and seriously damaged others.
The BetVictor Northern Premier League club have been left with a bill for more £10,000 worth of damage after winds tore through the North Stand at the 100-year-old Cambridgeshire club’s Fenland Stadium, pictured.
As reported in The Non-League Paper on Sunday, fan Steve Campion has set up an online fundraising page to help foot the massive bill the NPL Division One South East is facing and more bad weather likely to be on the way.
The wrecked £13,000 cantilevered stand was built in 2010 and included 54 seats. Campion also wants to help safeguard an identical stand at the other end of the ground from suffering a similar fate.
His gofundme.com online fundraising platform page raised more than £2,000 in the first week week and on Wednesday night stood at more than £3,000.
Belper Town and Worskop Town became the latest clubs to dig deep for the Fenmen last Saturday, the Nailers promising to top up a donation of £157.59 from both sets of supporters when they met last weekend in a 2-1 away win for the Tigers.
Wow! Thanks very much! See you in March. https://t.co/kziR5poHgG
— Wisbech Town FC (@wisbechtownfc) February 15, 2020
Club secretary Spenny Larham told The NLP last Sunday: “It’s been ten years since the stadium was built and has survived stronger winds than this, but it was the direction which did the damage. The wrong wind, in the wrong direction at the wrong time
“Fortunately, there are some parts of the stand that can be salvaged as the main metal beams are largely still in place. Safety, though, is paramount, which is why we couldn’t play the game on Saturday.
“We feel bad really as our problems pale into significance with Tadcaster’s. This is not going to stop us existing, it’s just problem we didn’t need, but we are so very grateful to everyone who has donated and feel very humbled by the generosity of some people we don’t even know.”
The Fenman have’t lost their sense of humour in the face of adversity, posting a picture of the pristine seats at Wembley on Wednesday and joking about trying to really splash out on an upgrade!
Now if we build a stand like this one, I suspect we wouldn’t have any more problems with it getting blown down! pic.twitter.com/5UF5QFhiYD
— Wisbech Town FC (@wisbechtownfc) February 17, 2020
Elsewhere, Ciara left a trail of destruction up and down the country with a number of other clubs suffering flood damage.
NPL North West Division leaders Ramsbottom United found themselves deluged with a pitch at the Harry Williams Riverside Stadium resembling a lake after the adjacent River Irwell burst its banks.
It’s the third time in the past decade that Rammy have been flooded, including the horrendous floods that sank the ground on Boxing Day 2015.
Tadcaster Albion were equally hard-hit and have also launched a gofundme online fundraising appeal like the Fenman.
Make sure you get your copy of The Non-League Paper on Sunday for the latest news and action from across Non-League over the last seven days.
As well as exclusive match reports and pictures from all of Saturday’s fixtures in the Vanarama National League, the BetVictor-Sponsored Isthmian League, Southern League and Northern Premier League, The Non-League Paper’s live coverage extends all the way to Steps 5 and 6.
Image courtesy of @TadcasterAlbion & @wisbechtownfc/Twitter
