OLYMPIC gymnast Amy Tinkler will join dignitaries to mark the official opening of an upgraded County Durham football pitch.

The bronze medallist and Team GB sporting hero will be in her home town of Bishop Auckland on Saturday, February 25, to open the Heritage Park ground.

She will perform the duty alongside Bishop Auckland MP Helen Goodman and town Mayor, Cllr Ann Golightly, ahead of Bishop Auckland FC’s Northern League fixture against Seaham Red Star FC at 2.30pm.

The upgrade at Heritage Park has seen a new drainage system installed, which will prevent the pitch from becoming waterlogged - an issue that forced the club to cancel a number of fixtures in previous years.

As a result of this extended use, Middlesbrough FC has used the pitch for FA Youth Cup fixtures and so too will local grassroots side, Bishop Auckland St Mary’s JFC.

The works will aid the North-East club’s ambitions to climb the National League System, where they currently play Step Five football in Division One of the Ebac Northern League.

‘The Bishops’ have enjoyed great success throughout their 131-year-long history, winning The FA Amateur Cup ten times and this season, for the first time in 17 years, reaching the fourth qualifying round of The FA Cup.

The project was made possible thanks to a £52,000 grant from the Premier League, through the Football Stadia Improvement Fund, and a generous bequest from the club’s late fan Colin Rowell, who died in 2015, aged 79.