Just down the road from where Colchester United’s cherished former home once stood, the spirit and unity embodied by Layer Road lives on.

The Colchester United Football in the Community (FITC), a registered charity based at Shrub End Community and Sports Centre, is going from strength to strength in bringing people of all ages from the town together, much in the same way as the U’s old ground did in years gone by.

The demise of the Colchester United Community Sports Trust led to FITC being formed in April, 2013, with the aim of enriching the lives of the people through physical activity and the brand of Colchester United FC.

Since then, the thriving organisation has not looked back and every week provides an eye-catching 385 hours of sport to 6,500 participants ranging from four and 72 years of age, along with delivering sporting provision within 75 schools in the North Essex area.

Youngsters from the FITC’s Development Centre Programme also make up more than 30 per cent of the U’s current academy ranks, while the organisation also boasts thriving programmes such as girls’ football and walking football.

“It’s worth celebrating where we’ve come from to where we are now,” said the FITC’s long-serving Head of Community, Corin Haines.

“The key message is for us to offer anything for anybody within our community.

“Although we’re reformed, we’re still within our infancy really in terms of where we are as an organisation after four and a bit years.

“We’re focused on high quality delivery, as opposed to quantity over quality.

“Locally, we feel that we’re a provider that can be trusted and one that provides a variety of programmes that aren’t available elsewhere.”

Although FITC are completely separate financially to Colchester United FC, there are naturally strong links between the two entities.

The FITC are the charitable umbrella of the football club, governed by a board of trustees which includes U’s directors in addition to external trustees.

“There’s a very close relationship in there, in terms of shared services,” said Haines, who has worked full-time within Colchester United’s community department for the past 17 years.

“That’s helped us to drastically reduce the support costs of what we previously had, to make a more sustainable model.

“It was very top heavy before but now it’s shared services with lots of things and that’s helped us to use more of our resources to serve the community.

“It fits into the whole club philosophy around a pathway.

“We’re at the bottom of that pathway in terms of accessing young people and that can only support what the club are trying to do, in terms of attracting good young local talent to play for the club, at whatever capacity is.

“The partnership is extremely strong – it’s probably I would say one of the strongest partnerships across the whole Football League.

“The relationship is quite unique in terms of the way it was reformed and the way we operate.

“Some might even say it’s too close but I’ve seen all angles of it and I think it’s only positive, as long as governance and finance is separate.

“(Colchester United chairman) Robbie Cowling is very hands on and there’s regular contact - he gives a lot of care and attention to the organisation and sits on our board of trustees.

“He’s keen to see it continually develop as it is reincarnated from the football club.

“There’s a sense of ownership there and responsibility that there perhaps might not have been as much of before.

“Because the level of funding across all Football League Trust clubs is increasing, there are opportunities for everyone to excel and have a real impact and we feel a part of that.

“In some industries at the moment it’s extremely tough but we’re fortunate in that we’re in the world of football where the Premier League are under immense pressure to ensure they use the TV deal effectively - we’re reaping the rewards of that.”