WITH a flourish of spades amid glorious autumn sunshine, the project to create seven new mini-soccer pitches in Tavistock's Crowndale Valley took a giant leap forward last Saturday.

The official turf-cutting ceremony was attended by local dignitaries, young footballers and their parents and members of Crowndale Recreational Association which has pioneered the project.

John Warne, chairman of the CRA, said after more than seven years of hard work and setbacks, the dream of providing improved sports facilities in the Crowndale Valley was finally coming to fruition.

He said the new pitches would be among the best amateur football pitches in the country.

'If we can proceed quickly now, with a well-deserved and relatively low capital injection from our local authority, there is an excellent chance of Tavistock and the West Devon area becoming one of the FA's flagship projects,' he said.

John Burnett, MP for West Devon and Torridge, said the new facilities at Crowndale were an investment in the next generation.

'Never before has life been so competitive for the young, never before have young people had to work so hard, and never before have young people achieved so much — it is for them that we are here today,' he said.

Cllr Norma Woodcock, mayor of Tavistock, paid tribute to Mr Warne and the CRA.

'This is a really big day. I'm sure there are some people here who toiled for many years seeing this day keep retreating, but it's fair to say they stuck in there and never lost faith.

'This is going to be an enormous resource for Tavistock,' Cllr Woodcock said.

Mayor of West Devon, Cllr Robin Pike, said the borough council had always been supportive of the organisation and teamwork between the two organisations was the way forward.

The Football Association awarded the CRA more than £22,000 to create the mini-soccer pitches.

Andy Mitchell of the FA said the association was trying to increase community involvement in football for all ages, and was particularly keen to encourage the youngest players with the creation of mini-soccer pitches.

He said Tavistock was 'really well placed' to take advantage of FA funding and hoped schemes like the one at Crowndale would eventually mean a better English soccer team in the future.

One of the guests of honour, 96-year-old Bill Tucker, played football and cricket for Tavistock and is a life-long sports fan.

'When we were children our only sports ground was in the Meadows, when they used to keep the sheep there and the farmer would come down and collar your ball!

'Nobody could be more pleased than me to see what they are going to do for the youngsters here,' he said.

And Jo Hawkins, representing the Sir Billy Butlin Charity Trust which granted £10,000 towards the project, had a message for the CRA.

'Tell them that the old man would have been delighted at what is happening here today,' she said.

The new mini soccer pitches at Crowndale should be ready for use next season.

The next step for the CRA is a planning application to redevelop facilities at Crowndale to include new changing rooms, toilets, turnstile and a small clubroom for the junior football teams.

A bid to the FA to pay for the redevelopment should be submitted around the end of the year.