Carlisle United community sports trust's 'fantastic' new home

The CST, which delivers a host of education and community programmes, has moved into new premises at the former Newman School site on Lismore Place.

The Community Sports College, based at Blessed Christopher Robinson House, sees classrooms, offices and further facilities kitted out to enable to trust to take its offerings to the next level.

At the official opening on Thursday, United manager Simpson said the quality of the new trust premises should inspire everyone at the club.

“I’ve got to tell you, just looking round there has made me really envious – hopefully this facility will inspire the rest of the football club to get an upgrade of what we’ve got,” said Simpson.

“This puts us to shame with what we’ve got as a facility for the first team.

“The community sports trust are doing some fantastic work, and this facility will give you even more opportunity to help our community and stretching out to the rest of the county – which will go a hell of a long way to helping our football club.

“We should be one club, we should all be in it together.”

The site of the new Community Sports College at Blessed Christopher Robinson House (Image: News & Star)

The CST have signed a five-year lease to move into the Newman building, where they have named two rooms after men who were pivotal to the trust’s growth.

The John Halpin Suite is in recognition of the United legend who was CST manager for many years – while the Jimmy Mitchell Suite honours the late Blues fan who was instrumental to the trust’s growth and development.

Halpin, who recently retired, said: “It’s an excellent facility – I’ve been blown away by it. We always looked for somewhere to expand to, but then this came on the agenda and it’s fantastic.

“We can now service more bodies, not just in education but with so many different projects in these classrooms.

“I know a lot of hard work has gone into this and the people involved have the club and trust at heart.

“In terms of these rooms being named after myself and Jim, yes, I’m very proud on behalf of us both.”

John Halpin, United's former CST manager, has a room named after him at the new facility (Image: News & Star)

The official opening was attended by CST staff as well as club directors John Nixon, Steven Pattison, Nigel Clibbens, Suzanne Kidd and Nigel Davidson.

Jim Mitchell’s wife Marion Shiels, and his son Ian Mitchell, were special guests.

Steve Smith, the CST’s chair of trustees, said it was a landmark move for the trust.

“In 2008, when Jimmy and Halpy got into a room and decided to create a trust, they had little in the way of resources but a few brilliant ideas and they wanted to harness that ambition through the power of sport and badge of Carlisle United to make a difference to our local community.

“The pride they should have and I’ve got is immense.

“At any given time we have 25-30 projects on the go. We’ve got over 30 educators and coaches on our team.

“It is absolutely phenomenal what these guys do every day.”

Jim Mitchell's wife Marion Shiels and his son Ian stand proudly in front of the room named after Jim, inset, at the new facility (Image: News & Star)

Smith cited examples of how the trust make an impact on people’s lives.

“It’s the recent windower who used to get on the train from Workington to come to walking football, because the loss of his wife left him bereft,” he said. “Coming to walking football gave him a sense of purpose and ambition in life to get out of bed.

“It’s the young lad who had mental health issues that had been in his bedroom with the curtains closed for years and hadn’t really come out. He came to our sessions and kept coming back – it changed a life.

“It’s the 60 students that we’ve got who had fallen out of education and through the work of Teresa [Mulholland] and her team, they’ve been inspired not only to take on apprenticeships and enter the workforce, but go on to further education.

“It’s things like the emerging talent centre for girls, where we’ve got 70 places already taken, and we could have taken at least double that.

Some of the new facilities in the Community Sports College (Image: News & Star)

“This is the next milestone in our development and progress. We’re working with local authorities and stakeholders to find out what more value we can add from these facilities for the communities and people around Carlisle and the surrounding areas.

“It is really inspirational what sport can do. It goes beyond the terraces.”

James Tose, the CST’s manager, said he was delighted to see the Newman project come to fruition.

“It’s been ten-11 months in the making, a lot of hard work,” he said.

“When we first came to see it, I had a vision of what I wanted it to look like, because I saw the potential straight away.

“It was really important we weren’t too far away from the club – you can walk out of the front door and see the stadium.

“We’ve created an environment where kids can come, feel comfortable, and they can thrive and fulfil their potential.

“I think anybody who comes here will be impressed by what we’ve put together.

“On an education front, we’ve still got the study centre at Brunton Park, but the fact we’ve got more classrooms now lets us double in size our football development scholarship.

Staff and guests at the official opening (Image: News & Star)

“It will also give us the opportunity to do more courses, whether that’s employability or going into adult learning.

“And it’s given us the opportunity to make better things we already do, for example we now have service veterans coming twice a week, and they can do different activities and exercises.”

Tose said the deal to use the Newman building would help the trust make further steps in the future.

“The long-term aim is to have our own facility, where we’ve got the sports facilities and classrooms on site,” he said.

“But we want to make sure we get this right so when that does happen, we’re not having to build something from scratch.

“It’s going to take us to the next level. And the staff we’ve got are absolutely fantastic and the trust gets under their skin – they have a purpose in going to work, that’s why we get the loyalty and longevity from them.”

Tose also said it was right to honour John Halpin and Jim Mitchell.

Classroom facilities in the new Community Sports College (Image: News & Star)

“John and Jimmy put so much groundwork in,” he said.

“Jimmy was a massive supporter of the club and trust, and we all know about John Halpin the legend on the pitch and off it.”

Simpson could not conceal how impressed he was on the club’s behalf.

“It shows what you can do with a bit of investment and thought, and being proactive,” he said.

“It’s a fantastic facility with touchscreens, GPS and Veo systems they have, and so on.

“It’s a great facility for the young people in the area to come and get further educated.”

United’s manager has always been community-minded and he said it is vital the work the CST does remains at the heart of the Blues.

“When you’re not backed by Sheikh Mansour and Todd Boehly and you’re not multi-millionaires, you have to have a community that’s all part of the football club,” he added.

The sign outside the new college (Image: News & Star)

“I know of the events they do. I was in with the new veterans session yesterday, we have players going out into the community…this is our way of promoting the club in the wider area. We need it as much as we can.

“If we can give young people in the area an opportunity to try and better themselves, it can only be good for the image of our club, and for the people or our area.

“I think it’s the attraction of Carlisle United – we are a community-based football club. We are part of how people live in our area. If we can make it better we have to do everything we possibly can.”