A VILLAGE football club is preparing to kick off the second half of the season in style, thanks to a grant from the County Durham Foundation.

Coxhoe United will be sporting a new-look kit for their remaining matches, after receiving £7,000 through the foundation's Local Network Fund for Children and Young People.

The money has helped provide strips, training tops, sweat shirts, hats and warm coats for the club's 100-plus players.

The organisation was founded in 2005 when a group of parents got together and decided to establish a football club based in Coxhoe, where the existing village football group had a squad of just nine youngsters.

Word soon spread about the club, and more and more players started turning up for training.

Now the club has 120 players on the books, with teams playing in the under-eights, nines, tens and 11s of the Sunderland-based Russell Foster small-sided league, as well as mixed teams and two all-girl teams.

Delighted with the funding, a spokesman for the club said: "Playing for Coxhoe United is a great way for young people to not only make new friends, but also to raise levels of self-esteem and discipline in a safe and friendly environment.

"It is also proving to be a learning experience for many parents who are getting involved as coaches, and are taking coaching qualifications.''