Hamrun Spartans Nursery benefits from first Save A Life Foundation project

save-a-life-hamrun-projectOver 260 children will be the beneficiaries of the first project of the Save A Life Foundation through which the upgrade of the Hamrun Spartans Football Nursery will mark an important leap for the educational development of the same children.

The works are now in an advanced stage and are expected to be completed in the coming weeks. The works on this project are being spearheaded by the Save A Life Foundation which was established with the main concern that the social situation in the Southern Harbour District has an accelerating concentration of social problems such as illiteracy, unemployment and substance abuse. These social problems are evidently resulting in an increasing number of under-privileged families in these localities.

The Hon. Claudio Grech, the Founder of the Save-A-Life Foundation said that “this project is a clear reflection of the mandate of the Foundation. We are partnering with community NGOs to create projects which will actively contribute towards keeping children away from the negative factors of today’s lifestyle. Ultimately these projects can be translated into concrete positive action aimed at empowering the future generations to address the social problems in the community.

The Nursery, was founded by the late Tony Bajada, together and with the help of Noel Attard and Charles Xuereb, in December 1987. At that time, the Nursery catered for circa 40 players.

Over time, the Nursery has faced several problems in terms of an area which could serve as training grounds, so much so that for a while, they were restricted to train its members on the tarmac ground of the Lyceum in Ħamrun. Nevertheless this never discouraged Tony Bajada and back in 2008, all registered players started training at the ‘Victor Tedesco Stadium’ pitch together with the 5-a-side pitch in Alexander Street.

Mr. Noel Attard, the Chairman of Hamrun Spartans Nursery said that, “this is the realisation of our dream. From the first day of our move to the new premises, we always knew that an extensive extension in the centre was vital for our efforts. With the help of the Save a Life Foundation, we are seeing our dream of having modern and bigger facilities come true.”

The project will see the extension of the premises on the ground floor, which will give the administration a way to build a gym and a multi-purpose educational facility especially designed and equipped for children. With the extension, the Nursery will be also able to create a second floor where a new administrative area, hall and a female changing room will be built, in view of the growing popularity of football with young girls.

Moreover, the upgrade of the centre will make the Nursery fully-accessible for people with special needs and will help the Nursery to be able to cater for the demands the Nursery has, while enabling it to fulfil its community role better.