The bulldozers rolled into Keswick Rugby Club’s Davidson Park ground to demolish the former club house as the Big Build project starts to take visible shape.
Over the coming days and weeks the foundations will be laid for the new club house followed by the steel framework and the block work with the construction likely to be completed by the end of February.
Ahead of the clubhouse’s demolition all the required internal fixtures, along with the club’s trophies, were stripped out by volunteers and put into storage.
The £1.9m Big Build will see a new elevated clubhouse constructed along with the creation of additional car parking facilities. The new building will provide a bar and viewing space on the ground floor and changing rooms and a gym at the first floor level. Access ramps and steps would link to the car parking areas and the pitches.
The push towards a new elevated clubhouse was a response to a series of flooding episodes, most memorably in 1985, 2005, 2009 and 2015, that had seen various levels of water swamping the old clubhouse causing major clean up exercises.
The facilities have also not been adequate to accommodate the club’s growing rugby family that has seen it grow to 16 teams, including the Falcons women’s team which was formed in 2020 and now has enough players to support a second team. The women had requested more privacy and in response the new development will have six changing rooms with their own toilets and showers.
The club currently has 650 members and this is expected to grow to more than 1,000 by 2030 and it also has strong links with the town’s schools and Keswick Lions.
It also serves as a vibrant hub for the community and is a platform for various events and gatherings.
But there is still a £115,000 shortfall in funding which has stalled in recent weeks because the focus has been on the start of construction work.
“One of the messages I am trying to get out is that we still have quite a significant amount of fundraising to do,” said club president Tim Green. “There has been a bit of a pause in fundraising while the focus has been on getting the construction started but we are keen that we don’t lose a lot of momentum that we have built up.”
But Mr Green is confident that the fundraising total will be achieved. “One of the reasons for being confident is the way that the local community has got involved. Everything we have done has been hugely well supported by the rugby family and the wider town but we still have a long way to go.”
As part of the fundraising push, the club is selling paving slabs to be incorporated into the Big Build at £1,000 a time with the name of the purchaser being engraved on them.
To make a donation to the project, go to Keswick Rugby Club – The Big Build! (gofundme.com)
