CHILDREN met some of their footballing heroes at the launch of a new youth club.

Oxford United players Ryan Clarke and Aaron Woodley helped cut the ribbon to officially open the Rose Hill Junior Youth Club, for children aged from seven to 11.

More than 50 children turned up at the club, held at the Oxford estate’s community centre, in The Oval, on Thursday.

Mr Clarke, United’s first-choice goalkeeper said: “It’s a good place for youngsters to come and make new friends and enjoy themselves.

“I’m glad our community scheme at the club supports projects such as this. I know how easy it can be for kids to get bored and have little to do, so hopefully this will be a place for them to get together, have fun and learn some new skills.”

Hilary Gardner, of housing association GreenSquare, which has donated a Nintendo Wii games console to the club, helped the footballers open the centre.

Sports, dance, games, cooking, storytelling and art will all be on offer at the club.

It is independent of Oxfordshire County Council, which is planning to end funding for 20 youth centres, to save £4.2m over four years.

Fundraiser Fran Gardner said the ceremony was a brilliant start for the club.

She said: “We were delighted with the turnout and it was great to see how excited all the children were.

“It has been a long time coming but we have made it. It’s very exciting for children on the estate to now have somewhere they can go to.

“We had a lot of new members sign up and I think the club is going to prove very popular among young people in Rose Hill.”

More than £9,000 has been raised to keep the Thursday afternoon club running for the next 12 months.

And this week another grant of £5,600 came from the Oxfordshire Stronger Communities Alliance.

Ms Gardner said: “This is fantastic news, because it’s almost half a year’s funding costs for us. We were lucky to get the grant, because so many groups applied, so we’re very grateful.

“We will continue to explore other fundraising options to ensure the club keeps running in future.”

l For more details about the youth club, call Ms Gardner on 07770 324277 or email fran.gardner@ocha.org.uk