Ashington
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We ’ re hoping that the new extension allows us to open our doors to even more users and that the room is used for weddings , birthdays , anniversaries etc .
This is also a family club , our first team captain this season , Gareth Newman is the son of our long standing treasurer Garry , our fullback Andrew Elliott ’ s parents and grandparents were club stalwarts for many years , a number of the other senior players parents played . We have our very own Walton family who are all involved as coaches , player and tea maker , and a number of the tots are the children of current players , this makes for a friendly club house atmosphere with plenty of banter .”
Facilities
“ We have a new extension that increases our capacity to about 220 people . It was opened Saturday 10 September by the MP Ian Lavery . We were also pleased Northumberland RFU County President Malcolm Jarvie could attend .
The main funders for the extension were :
• Sport England
• Northumberland County Council and its local Members small grants scheme
• The RFU and Northumberland RFU
• Banks
• CISWO
And our own members through a “ Buy a Brick ” scheme and one individual donation for £ 5k
The extension enables us to hold functions and be available for parties . Previously , we ’ ve hired a marquee to hold our annual Sportman ’ s Dinner and Autumn Ball , now we can hold them in our clubhouse and we ’ re starting to get bookings for birthdays and celebratory events .
Two weeks ago we had 150 people at a 50th birthday party and this Saturday we have over 100 coming to a 60th . We ’ ve also now got a fully accessible ( disabled ) toilet and new ramp to the club which means anyone can now access the club . We also have an external seating area overlooking the cricket pitch , a great location to enjoy a sunny Saturday afternoon with a drink !”
We also need to ensure we have enough volunteers to continue to develop and run the club . We ’ ve been fortunate to have a couple of younger people come onto the management committee over the last couple of years but we still need more volunteers to continue to develop and progress .
The other challenge on the playing side is to try and get 3 regular sides representing the club on a Saturday , this creates more competition for places and improves the playing standard . We ’ d then like to secure promotion and establish ourselves in Northumberland and Durham Division 1 , where most of us feel we truly belong as a club , but we have to regain that standard .
In the past the club has been as high as NE1 , travelling to the likes of Cleckheaton , Hull , Keighley etc . in Yorkshire , I think these days for an amateur sport at our level it ’ s a big commitment to ask , and a big expense for the club to travel those distances . Therefore personally I ’ d settle for promotion to N and D1 , of course once we ’ re in the next league things might change …”
Ambitions
“ I think our ambitions are generally covered above , but we ’ d also like to do things like have a second set of floodlights so that our training pitch doesn ’ t get overworked and we can host midweek matches , and put new safety fencing around the first and second team pitches , but the main thing is for the club to remain a happy , vibrant and financially stable place where rugby and its values remain at the heart of what we do .”
Benefits
“ The clubhouse extension is already having a huge effect and we are using it as a springboard to move forward . We have a clubhouse everyone can be proud of and one that matches our grounds .
Financially it will enable us to hold more and bigger events and put us on a stronger financial footing .
We need to thank our funders and in particular one of our Management committee members Paul Milburn who pulled together a cocktail of eleven external funders , the main one being Sport England plus our own members buy a brick scheme and a £ 5k donation from one of our members .”
Challenges
“ The biggest challenges for the club are to ensure we remain financially strong and an attractive place for people to come and enjoy sport . The new extension should enable us to do that .
32 Issue 65