By Helen Thompson

Published at 11:08, Thursday, 08 March 2012

MORESBY RUFC are celebrating after securing a five-figure grant to improve their facilities.

windfall: The re-formed Moresby team who will be able to make use of the upgraded faciltities

The club were awarded £10,000 from Banks Renewables, via its Banks Community Fund, to replace the remaining external wooden walls in its clubhouse with new concrete blocks and insulation, which will provide greater protection from the elements as well as making the inside of the building more comfortable.

A new UPVC emergency exit door and security shutter door will also be added to the premises, the club is hoping that the improvements will encourage even greater use of the building by local people, especially by younger members of the community.

It is hoped other funding may be attracted once the upgrades are completed, which will potentially help with the formation of a local youth club which would be located in the clubhouse.

The clubhouse is already widely used by the community, both for functions, other sports, senior citizen groups and the nearby primary school, who prepare their carnival floats there.

Work is scheduled to start on the building in May, after the end of the present rugby season, with a view to everything being finished by mid-summer.

Moresby RUFC was originally founded in 1925 by the miners that worked at the local colliery, and the current clubhouse was built in 1980 out of wood.

The team itself was forced to fold two seasons ago due to a lack of player availability, but after a concerted effort to sign up new players last year, it reformed at the start of the present season and has since lost only one match.

The vast majority of the 24 locally-based players on the club’s books are aged 20 or under, and club president Frank McCracken hopes more of their peers will be encouraged to try the game if they come up to the club for other activities and see what’s on offer.

He said: “These much-needed improvements will make the clubhouse more comfortable and secure, and by cutting out the draughts that currently come through the wooden walls, it should mean that our energy bills come down as well.

“The team has done really well this season, and has the potential to do a lot better in years to come – having better facilities will help us both retain our current numbers and recruit more players, and will make a big difference to the club’s long-term prospects.

“In rural areas such as ours, there’s often a real lack of facilities for young people, but we’re keen to tackle this issue in our community by using the function room as a youth club, which will give its users somewhere to go and will hopefully encourage them to think about playing rugby as well.

“Improving our facilities will make a big difference in many different ways, and we’re very grateful to Banks for enabling us to carry out the work.”

Published by http://www.whitehavennews.co.uk