AFC Sudbury are celebrating a major sponsorship deal with a long established, award-winning Wardale Williams.

Wardale Williams, an independent optician and part of the award-winning Observatory Group, which has branches across Suffolk and Essex including Sudbury, Haverhill and Halstead, has agreed to become the stadium sponsor of AFC Sudbury.

The three-year deal will bring a significant cash boost to the club and will see its multi-million pound, state-of-the-art home renamed the Wardale Williams Stadium.

Richard Instance, club director, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have received the support of Wardale Williams and we look forward to working with them over the next three years and hopefully beyond. Wardale Williams is a well-known and respected firm in Sudbury and the surrounding towns and we are glad to be working in partnership with another forward thinking, ambitious local organisation. I am confident the partnership will bring enormous benefits to all involved.”

Wardale Williams, has traded from its shop in Gainsborough Street, Sudbury for more than 60 years. As well as practices in Sudbury, Halstead and Haverhill, the group has other branches in Ipswich, Beccles, Southwold, Leigh-on-Sea in Essex and Muswell Hill, North London, which trade under the name of Observatory the Opticians which marks its 25th Anniversary this year.

The partnership will see both parties work together on a number of events, initiatives and community projects over the next three years.

Jonathan Foreman, the company’s founder and managing director, said: “Wardale Williams and AFC Sudbury are a great fit, we are both forward thinking and ambitious, have progressed significantly over the past 10 years and we are both very community focused with a great passion for what we do. And, I admire them too, all that success from volunteers. They deserve a boost from our success in Sudbury.

“As a company we always try to support local institutions wherever we can and I am also originally from the Sudbury area so I am very aware of the standing the club has locally. I am sure we will all have lots of fun together, which will work to the advantage of both organisations and of course to the local community. Our customers can take pleasure that some of their hard earned money will be returned to benefit the town.”