A Cockermouth sports club has launched a crowdfunding drive to develop its facilities.

Cockermouth Rugby Union Football Club is based at the Grasmoor Centre and run by a team of 50 volunteers.

It has more than 120 junior and 70 adult members.

The club manages the centre, which is used for a range of sporting and social activities, including tennis, archery, cheerleading and ballroom dancing.

“We want to further develop our facilities to become a hub for local outdoor physical and social activity for all abilities and ages,” said member Chris Wright.

The club has set up a crowdfunding webpage in the hope of raising money to cover the cost of maintenance and improvement work.

It would like to create a multi-use games area on the existing tennis courts, which are in a poor condition and not used by many people.

The club initially aimed to raise £3,500 but, having hit that figure, extended the target to £10,000.

Chris said: “The larger amount would set the club up in a strong position to attract the additional local and national funding available for facility development.

“We’d like to provide new sporting facilities for the community, work in partnership with other organisations to provide sporting activities for all ages and abilities.

“Specifically to the rugby club this project will ensure better quality training can take place more often allowing players to reach their full rugby potential.

“The courts are dated and only a few people use them.

“We’d like to resurface them and create a space which can be used for a whole range of sports.”

The club is hoping lots of people will help out during a maintenance weekend on Saturday, June 24 and Sunday, June 25.

Chris said: “All sorts of maintenance work needs done, including car park repairs and painting.

“A couple of ceilings also need replacing.

“We had lots of support last year, with more than 50 people helping. It would be great if we could get that again.”

The club has also been given some wood and are hoping to build a gazebo and barbecue area which can be used on match days.

The crowdfunding page closes on June 14.

To donate, go to www.crowdfunder.co.uk/crufc-facility-development-fund

Rewards for people’s pledges have been provided by The Coffee Kitchen, Chance Camp and Cockermouth RUFC.

“The support so far has been fantastic with a wide range of pledges and donations.

“The club are extremely grateful to anyone who pledges,” said Chris.