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Caerphilly Castle Ladies and Girls FC welcomed more than 700 women and girls to its annual summer football festival at Virginia Park over the weekend.

Coach Bethan Bushen told Caerphilly Observer how the number of clubs attending this year was double that of last year – with this year’s event coinciding with the club’s 25th anniversary.

She said: “We brought the festival forward this year after bad weather stopped us last summer, and it was a really successful event.

“We had 80 teams show up to play, with one team coming from as far as England to take part. There was a nice variation of clubs which is always good to see.”

The two-day festival, held on June 8 and 9, was a mix of both tournament and non-tournament football, with the junior sections playing for fun whilst the under-12s and ladies squads played competitively.

Coach Bushen continued: “Natasha Harding [former Wales international] was there to hand out the awards, which was amazing for the girls to see, and we made a real community effort with several businesses involved in the day.

“We had the barbecue food provided by Up Market Family Butchers for example, and also had mayor Mike Prew come along.”

Most importantly for the club, Bushen explained how 20% of each entry will go towards homelessness charity Llamau, which has a base in Caerphilly town.

“We’re just totalling-up how much we’ve raised this year but we’re expecting the number to be decent given the amount of teams that signed up.

“We’re also going to sign a club shirt and frame it when we go to the charity’s base on July 15 for a look around. It’s important to us to see the money being used in the community.”

Asked about how the club is doing more generally, coach Bushen said the seniors have had success in the South Wales Women and Girls League, and that the age groups are always growing.

She continued: “We don’t stop playing football throughout the summer, so we can keep the momentum going. It feels like we grow every week.

“We’re always on the lookout for more senior players and this year we’re trying to grow our new U10s section so it would be great if people could get in touch.”

Bethan Bushen can be contacted on 07930820643.