A community celebration was held to officially open a new state-of-the-art 3G pitch at Youngs Park in Aylsham.

The Youngs Community Sports Trust and Aylsham Football Club hosted the event on Sunday, September 1 to showcase the new sporting facility.

The all-weather pitch was completed thanks to a £543,816 grant from the Premier League, FA and the Government’s Football Foundation, and £250,000 from the Greater Norwich Growth Board’s infrastructure investment fund.

It is necessary to help cope with a 100pc growth in football teams and groups using Youngs Park since it opened in 2015.

Ian Potter, football club chairman and trustee of The Youngs Community Sports Trust, said he was proud of everyone involved in the project and stressed that facilities would be open to teams and groups from the wider community as well as Aylsham FC.

He said: “This took three years of planning and a huge effort by everyone involved from the trust, Youngs Park committee and Aylsham FC.

“We're not just doing it for today; we're doing it for the youngsters and community of tomorrow.

“We've built something that's going to be here for years to come.”