A JUNIOR football club has applied for a series of grants to help with a transformation by the end of the year.

Mellor Junior Football Club, which was set up 11 years ago, has applied for £50,000 from Sport England to help replace its ‘dilapidated’ changing rooms.

The club has also asked for a £5,000 grant from Ribble Valley Borough Council to help towards replacement fencing which could be approved on Tuesday.

The existing changing rooms, a cabin which dates from the 1970s, was donated to the club by Shadsworth School but lack disabled access, and the facilities to host girls and adult teams. The club has 125 young people on its books taking part in 10 teams from under six to under 18 age groups.

There are also 30 volunteers who help out every week.

If both grant applications are approved, the club hopes to start construction work at the site off Mellor Lane as soon as possible.

Martin Smith, club chairman and one of the founding members, said: “This project will help secure the future of the club for many years to come.

“The facilities that we have at the moment are not fit for purpose and they need to be updated.

“If we don’t get approval from Sport England then we will have to look at refurbishment options for the existing cabin “With new changing rooms we would look at expanding the club to adult teams and girls teams which would be fantastic but we just don’t have that capability at the moment.

“It would be a massive boost to the club and the community of we were able to get the funding.”

The bids come after Langho Football Club said it was aiming to raise £200,000 to built a new floodlit 3G pitch and install drainage at its site off Longsight Road.

It hopes to complete the building work by the summer after securing a £50,000 grant from Sport England.

The new facilities would save the club up to £15,000 a year as it currently has to hire out sports halls for training sessions during the winter months.