IDEAS are today being drawn up for a grand opening ceremony for the memorial to murdered schoolgirl Vicky Hall.No details have yet been fixed but the trustees who led the fundraising campaign spearheaded by the Evening Star, and Trimley Red Devils, are hoping to make it a special day in which Vicky is remembered and the new building celebrated.
IDEAS are today being drawn up for a grand opening ceremony for the memorial to murdered schoolgirl Vicky Hall.
No details have yet been fixed but the trustees who led the fundraising campaign spearheaded by the Evening Star, and Trimley Red Devils, are hoping to make it a special day in which Vicky is remembered and the new building celebrated.
Bob Race, a member of the trust which ran the memorial appeal and chairman of the Red Devils, said a meeting would be held soon to look at different ideas and dates for the opening, which should take place this summer.
He said the most important issue was to ensure the new £250,000 sports pavilion which will carry Vicky's name was completed on time and so a date would have to be carefully chosen.
Currently the project – rapidly taking shape on the Stennett Memorial Playing Field at Trimley St Mary – is on schedule and building work has not been disrupted by the cold weather.
Walls have now reached their full height and the roof trusses have been lowered into place.
Contractors Heronbuild have a 20-week contract to build the pavilion and it should be completed by mid-May.
The appeal launched by the Evening Star raised £310,000 – £100,000 from fundraising, and a £210,000 grant from the Football Foundation. Of the foundation's grant, £160,000 will go towards the cost of the sports pavilion, and £50,000 for a football development programme.
The pavilion will include four team changing rooms, showers, officials' rooms, storage, kitchen together with a community area.
It will be used by hundreds of young footballers, boys and girls, and other sports players and community groups.
Vicky, 17, went missing as she walked home from a nightclub in September 1999. A murder inquiry was launched after her body was found a week later in a ditch 24 miles away at Creeting St Peter.
WEBLINK: www.footballfoundation.org.uk
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