Stand Appeal- the story so far

The seed of the idea was sown after I read the book 'Wellington - Yesterdays Town' written by the late Councillor, Gillian Allen To read about the previous glory days of the Club, the crowds that it used to attract, the quality of teams we used to play and last - but not least - that wonderful old Stand, was truly inspirational

A brisk 'pen-to-paper' job quickly confirmed that the great majority of those within the Club were in agreement in attempting to reintroduce at least some of those glories

With mainly the Stand in mind, an estimation of costs became the first task Did we really want it, could we afford it, how would we raise the monies, would it be the final part of the jigsaw in restoring the facilities to the Athletic Ground?

Taking the above questions one at the time, our conclusions were as follows For some decades now, hardly an AGM went by without people like Frances Lock, Lloyd Jefferies and many others too numerous to mention, would stand up and ask when were we going to rebuild the Stand, all stating that it was far too wet or cold or just too uncomfortable to be at the ground without the covered accommodation

The estimated costings gave us the answer to the 'how much' question Without stating the figure, it was perhaps not quite as much as we thought How would we raise the monies? We would look to our 'Lords and Masters' the Rugby Football Union (RFU) They would acknowledge the fact that we are one of the oldest Clubs in the country and immediately offer to assist in funding the Project

We however at this early stage ran into our first 'rude awakener' The RFU agreed to assist but part of the deal was we had to bring ourselves in line with the 21st century (and Sport England standards) by upgrading almost all our existing changing room facilities Suddenly, the estimated costs more than doubled It was pointed out that our referees rooms resembled the proverbial 'broom cupboards', the showers were communal thereby forcing our young female players to arrive (and return home) in their playing kit and the changing rooms (even when used by the Minis/Juniors on a Sunday morning) were far too small. The final observation was the fact that our Treatment room had to share its accommodation with a couple of old boilers

New estimates had to be immediately produced We now had a real Project on our hands The WRFC Management Committee, after an understandable bout of nervousness, agreed that a team should be formed to 'drive' the Project Essentials included carrying out a feasibility study, obtaining Planning permission, recruiting an experienced Architect and fact finding as to whether we could raise the sum required The above became the Project teams first set of priorities A separate Account was immediately opened & named the 'WRFC Stand Appeal Fund'


The Project Team

David Jones - Project Chairman
Trevor Spurway - Architect
Ashley Colman - Fund-raiser
Simon Gamlin - Construction Manager
Phil Braddock - Quantity Surveyor

Assisted by:
Keith Colman - Development Plan
Nick Robins - Development Plan
Matthew Colman - Financial advice & assistance
Roy Hutchings - Financial advice & assistance


Funding & fund-raising

The Tender process took place, driven by the expertise of Phil Braddick.
The revised estimate of cost came to £215,000 This figure included the shifting of a gas-main which was proved to be routed in a position directly under where the Stand is to be built The problem was quickly sorted by Simon Gamlin. With the assistance of his voluntary team of those great Clubmen, Ian Smith, Terry Jones (senior) & Alex West Yes, our second 'rude awakener'

That has been the challenge before us. It was obvious that we had a lot of work to do. We immediately formed a fund-raising committee & listed a programme of events. We set a target figure of £50,000 to be raised 'in-house'.

With the RFU taking full interest in our progress, we explored how they were able to help us. They were impressed with our efforts & responded by offering us a £45,000 grant After a short period of time, this was raised to £50,000. Progress indeed, almost half way there with the remaining £115,000 having to be raised externally. Applications were already successful with the Wellington Town Council (£7,500), Taunton Deane Borough Council (£35,000) when the RFU (again) stepped up their offer. They were now prepared to raise their grant to £75,000 and, additionally, were prepared to offer a Ground-match grant of a further £6,000 To complete the above ‘package’, the RFU have offered us a £25,000 interest-free loan

The sources of the further external funders can now be revealed A press release will soon be made as we have now received a £30,000 Grant from Viridor Credits It has been a long 'bumpy' road, with (seemingly) every bit of good news, usually being followed by bits of not-so-good news Within the Project we've learnt to be very resilient Our belief has always been that whenever one door closes, another tends to open

In-house Fund raising

To date, under the direction of Ashley Colman, we have raised the following amounts by means of in-house events:

- Auction of Dreams (leg waxing, etc) (our thanks to Mandy Smith & Co) - £ 450.00
- 60s/70s Disco (our thanks to Mandy Smith & Co) - £ 435.00
- Skittles Week (our thanks to Nick & Jo at the Dolphin Inn) - £ 400.00
- Match .v. Relyon (our thanks to Matthew John & Co) - £1448.00
- Darts Evening (a tremendous thank you to Alan Perry) - £1230.00
- Golf Day at Oake Manor (a tremendous thank you to Simon Rudd) - £1935.00
- Race Night (our thanks to Ashley Colman, Mandy Smith & Bob Payne ) - £1367.00
- RFU Grand Draw (WRFC retain every 90p in the pound) - £1900.00
- Martlett Inn Race Night (our thanks to Gerald Brewer) - £ 340.00
- Dance Night & DJ (a tremendous thank you to ‘Bodmin’) - £ 230.00
-Sponsored Head Shave at Cottage Inn (thanks to Tony Walkers) - £ 300.00
-Sponsored Half Marathon (our thanks to Chris Rudd) - £ 200.00


In-house Donations

To date, all sections of the Club have made contributions to the 'WRFC Stand Appeal Fund':
- Minis/Juniors - £1,000.00
- Past Players Association - £1,500.00
- Senior Club section - £5,000.00
- Vice Presidents - £20,100


Donations

To date, we have received many generous donations from friends, members, supporters, local businesses and Vice Presidents We acknowledge and thank these donors:
-3 * anonymous donations, totalling £13,800 (with a further £2,500 pledged)
- Jean Hoare
- Anne & Arnold Trott
- Chris (Bodmin) Bullock
- Graham & Pat Sprague
- Glyn Meridith
- David Jones
- John Morton
- Greg & Caroline Dyke
- Koroosh Khodabandaloo
- Ron Morgan
- Bruce Willey
- Lloyd Jefferies
- Richard Fox
- Tony Byrne
- Richard Gale (R.W.Gale Ltd)
- Michael Rose
- TME (SW) Ltd
- Tony Walker
- The Mount Veterinary Hospital
- Mark Houghton-Berry
- The Carly Press
- Les Neville
- Roger Symons
- Bill Pearce
- Gerald Brewer
- George Powell
- Andrew Govier
- Peter Gregory
- Ian & Mandy Smith
- Robert Hunt
- Terry Jones (Senior)
- Derrick Hodgson
- Alex West
- Richard Hine
- Simon Rudd
- Alan Perry
- Phil Braddick
- Mr & Mrs Geoff Smith
- Simon Gamlin
- Summerfield Developments
- Chris Rudd
- Robert Brown (T/A Lewis Brown)
- Nick & Jo Fenn (Dolphin Inn)
- Charlie Sellick
- Debenhams
- Wellington Federation of Sports Clubs
- TDBC
- Viridor Credits
- Wellington Town Council
- Nick Southcott
- Encon Insulation


There is still a little way to go If you wish to assist, please contact me, I’ll be very pleased to hear from you

I hope this has bought everyone up to date. One thing is for sure. We have already (as described above) gained sufficient funding to commence. We have had the backing & full support of the WRFC Management Committee. This will happen as soon as the last ball has been kicked this Season. Start date could therefore be as soon as the last couple of weeks of this month (April 2008). This will give us a completion date of August 2009 (if my memory serves me correct, approximately 3 years ahead of schedule, as I seem to remember saying that it will be completed coincident with the year of the Olympics (2012)!

Please support as many of the fund-raisers as you can. There are a lot of ‘peripherals’ on the wish-list (equipment for the gym, electronic score-board, a permanent ‘plumbed-in’ Tannoy system, CCTV, enclosing the rear of the property, reinstatement of dug-outs, to name but a few)

Let’s see this Project through to the bitter end. I promise you that nobody will be disappointed. We will end up with an absolute magnificent facility, one that we will all feel very proud to be associated with. The offers requesting the use of the Athletic Ground as the venue for County & Representative matches will surely follow.

During this last 2 years & whilst engaged on this Project, the WRFC has been described as a ‘great ambassador for the Town’ by Wellington Town Council, ‘vibrant & progressive’ by TDBC and, more recently, a ‘sleeping giant’ by a group of rugby supporters from a nearby Club!

I will update the above as soon as we have any further news

David Jones
WRFC Project Chairman

Tele: (01823) 663831
Email: davidjones171@btinternet.com
Address:
18, Elms Road
Wellington
Somerset
TA21 8EE


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