The complex nature of Newtown Park’s finances has been revealed by the charity which owns and runs the Bo’ness facility.

 At the Newtown Park Association’s (NPA) annual general meeting on March 5, stakeholders were told that the club currently held a balance of £161,220.

But following on from that meeting, trustees of the NPA feel it was important to let Bo’ness residents know that despite a seemingly healthy bank balance, there are restrictions on how most of that cash can be spent, leaving the NPA still banking on the ongoing support of the community.

The most significant element of these figures is that  £137,500 is ‘ring-fenced’ to replace the pitch at the park in the next few years. This is in accordance with the terms and conditions imposed by Sport Scotland when they made an initial £250,000 grant to the NPA in 2019 to lay the new pitch.

Also included in the NPA balance  is the sum of £1,320 donated under Just Giving for refurbishment of the external wall of the park, an ongoing project. Meanwhile the sum of £3,400 relates to the funds raised by the Christmas reindeer event held at the park over the last three years.

Therefore the working capital of NPA as at April 1 2025 was £19,000.

"The point was raised quite correctly that anybody looking at the accounts would see there was £161,000 in in in the bank,” said NPA trustee Anne Laine.

“And the question then would be ‘why are they appealing for funds and always saying they're hard up and they can't afford to to do this and can’t afford to do that when they have £161,000 in the bank?’. 

“And the answer to that is that a lot of the money within the £161,000 is ring-fenced.”

At the outset Sport Scotland recommended that the 5g playing surface should be replaced after eight and a half years. However based on the current condition of the pitch the NPA feel it should last comfortably for 10 years, meaning it will have to be replaced in 2029.

“When we got the money from Sport Scotland at the outset one of the condition was that, based on the cost of £250,000 to replace the pitch 10 years down the line, NPA had to put away £25,000 per annum, and we’ve done that every year,” added Ms Laing.

“So we have put together a significant amount of money, but it is all to put towards the new pitch.

“Sport Scotland were investing all this money to upgrade the pitch but they wanted to ensure that at the end of the day we would be in a position to keep it going.”