YOUNG footballers at Eldwick Juniors are celebrating success in a national competition which has netted the club £5,000 to pay for a full renovation of its leaky and unheated changing room.

Some 150 children play on Bradford Council pitches at Eldwick Recreation Ground and the old changing block, owned by the club, is in disrepair, said club chairman James Thirkill.

"It hasn't got a toilet or a changing room and now we have a growing number of girls playing football, with their own U14s team, so we need proper changing facilities," Mr Thirkill said.

"We are a small, close family club and have struggled to get any grants in the past.

"Also for us to have raised the cash through sponsorship and events, on top of our operating costs, could have taken us three or four years.

"Now will be able to do a complete refurbishment of our building and hopefully even a small extension to it."

The much-needed cash windfall came when a father of one young player proposed helping the club in a competition run by international building firm, Saint-Gobain UK & Ireland.

Nik Beedham is branch manager of Gibbs and Dandy in Pudsey, which is a part of the Saint- Gobain Group.

He said: "SG held a competition for employees this year, as it is its 350 year anniversary, to nominate a local concern for improvement. I saw the opportunity and put forward a case."

Mr Beedham led a Facebook campaign and se secured the win for the £5,000 section of the competition by a lead of 677 votes.

The online voting was just a small part of the judging process and the final decision was made by Saint-Gerbain and was awarded to the community football club.

Stuart Moorhouse, also of Eldwick Juniors said: "Thanks to Nik, we are thoroughly delighted that we have won the UK 'Nominate to Renovate' funding competition run by Saint-Gerbain and we are looking forward to building an even brighter future for Eldwick Juniors."

Richard Fearnside, secretary of the Eldwick Village Society said the club's young players were great ambassadors for playing sports at grass roots level within the community.

"They have an old pre-fabricated hut which leaks water during the winter and does not contain any heating," he said.

"We do our bit by giving them donations from our events, but these monies will hopefully go a long way to making sure facilities for the children are significantly improved. It's excellent news."