Nantwich Town FC is delighted to announce that Dame Pat Bacon has agreed to become Honorary President of the Female section of the football club.
Dame Pat will officially support the board and senior coaching group to help drive the strategic direction and vision of the club.
NTFC Chairman Jon Gold said “We are delighted to have Dame Pat on board, she has a long association with the club and it was her initial vision and support that enabled the introduction of our first senior female team over 12 years ago and her outstanding leadership experience will really complement the team we already have and help us accelerate our plans further. Our Female section has grown rapidly over the last 4 years and we now have over 200 female footballers playing at the club every week supported by a growing team of 15 female coaches”.
We also recognise that the game is changing rapidly and we need to make sure that we optimise all of the fundraising, commercial, marketing, investment, partnerships and sponsorship opportunities available, whilst also providing all our amazing volunteer coaches with the training and development support they need to support our female footballers.
Dame Pat Bacon noted, “The club and the Women and Girls playing at Nantwich Town have created a unique vibrant opportunity for grassroots football within the local community. We will now develop a regular forum within the club to align the current and strategic needs of all key stakeholders, players, parents, coaches and supporters to optimise our vision of continued success on and off the pitch.”
Richard Embley, Head of Women’s and Girls football said “We have an exciting Women’s first team attracting crowds of over 150 supporters every time they play, we also have weekly open aged recreational and pan- disability football. Furthermore, our Girls Teams now are operating competitively at u9, 10,11, 12, 13,14, 15, 16 and u18 and next season we will launch a new Development squad.
Our Wildcat and Little Lionesses initiatives are available for all young girls aged between 3-8, so we have grown rapidly and Dame Pat will help us to improve all aspects of what we do and she’s already shown a personal interest in supporting our progress”.
Dame Patricia Bacon DBE
After university, Pat spent five years in retail management. That led to a career of over 30 years in Further Education, firstly teaching and later in leadership roles. It was whilst Principal and CEO of St Helens College, that Pat was elected President of the Association of Colleges in England and was subsequently awarded a DBE in 2011 for services to Further Education, locally and nationally.
Pat has extensive experience in Non-Executive roles in the public, private and charitable sectors. Most recently she has just completed two terms as Chair of Cheshire College. Pat became involved with Nantwich Town FC when her husband, Tony Davison joined the Board and has remained a firm supporter of the club, since Tony departed to join the Board of Crewe Alexandra FC.