A JUNIOR football club has moved a step closer to having a new home after hosting a fundraising fun day, with the club now just £2,000 short of its £80,000 target.

Bishopthorpe White Rose Football Club held an end of season Women’s World Cup fun day on Sunday on Archbishop of York Junior School’s field in Bishopthorpe.

During the event, the club’s players, friends and families and other members of the local community collectively dribbled footballs in sponsored laps for a total distance of 481 miles, the distance from Bishopthorpe to Paris, one of the major host cities of the Women’s World Cup.

Before the event, the club had raised £75,000 in 18 months for its proposed new playing fields and clubhouse on Sim Balk Lane. Sunday’s event raised £3,000, meaning the club now just needs £2,000 to reach its obligated contribution of £80,000 for the building project.

Speaking about the event, Melissa Vogel, a member of the club’s fundraising committee, said: “There were about 500 people there. It was fantastic.”

She said that work on the club’s new home was already underway. She is hoping generous individuals or businesses will make donations to the project to take the club’s fundraising total to £80,000.

BBC Look North’s Harry Gration kicked off the fun day.

Activities during the event included bubble football, a bouncy castle, inflatable slide, beat the keeper, crazy golf, bargain football boot sales and a barbecue, along with a Nerf Wars arena and a Speed Kix challenge.

There was also a raffle with prizes, including an England Ladies' top, worn and signed by York’s Lucy Staniforth, and a signed Manchester United football.

Bishopthorpe White Rose Football Club has recently outgrown available facilities in Bishopthorpe.

It currently plays across five different sites and does not have a home ground, clubhouse or focal point in the community. In 2017, the club was offered land by City of York Council, and have support and funding agreed from both the authority and the Football Association to have its own purpose-built pitches and clubhouse in the village in Sim Balk Lane.