YOUNG footballers are taking to the field in style after a cement works stepped in to help get them new strips.

The 65 members of the Wolsingham Football Academy in Weardale train on the village sports fields every Thursday evening and Saturday morning.

The youngsters, aged six to 12-years-old, take on other community teams in summer tournaments.

Julie Gibbon, whose eight-year-old son, Dean Iley, trains at the Academy, has worked for Blue Circle, now Lafarge, for 13 years.

She approached the company for help with buying 100 kits and was delighted when they donated £500.

She said: "The new strips are just the job for the kids. The Academy runs on the goodwill and enthusiasm of the youngsters and the adults who give the training, so we were bowled over with the support from the company.

"It's great that they recognise how important things like this are."

Peter Greeno, manager of Lafarge Cement's Weardale Works manager , said: "Wolsingham is just one community in the Dale with which we have long standing links."It's great to be able to help the young people there with something they are really keen on."

Mrs Gibbon was on the sidelines when the teams first ran out for training in their kit. She has just come out of plaster having snapped her Achilles tendon training to become a football coach.