Facilities news
Peterborough RUFC announce grounds partnership with London Rock and Contour Golf Peterborough Rugby Club is delighted in partnership with London Rock, and Contour Golf, to announce the commencement of a major project to improve and modernise their outside facility at Fortress Fengate. The club which boasts over 1000 members is one of the oldest, and biggest amateur single sports clubs in the City and will celebrate its 100th anniversary in 2024. Tagged “The Club For All” it caters for all members of the community in Peterborough, and is keen to attract a wide diversity of members to be part of the rugby family. The club is currently run entirely by volunteers. Children as young as four start with Little Scrummers on a Saturday morning, and the club fields teams of all age groups including a Veterans side known as the Juggers. Particularly strong are the clubs Age Grade Section who play on Sundays, and included in this are several girls teams, mirroring the trend as the country’s leading growth team sport for girls. Many of these girls progress to playing for the clubs senior ladies team. Fengate became the home of PRUFC in the mid seventies after they moved from there facility at what is now the East of England Showground. The current grounds are on the site of a former council waste site, and although kept in good condition thus need to improve the facility after 45 years of use, was at the forefront of the minds of the club management. The opportunity to work with London Rock and Contour Golf was too big an opportunity to turn down. Vice Chairman Archie Bennett added “ At a time where there have been a lot of bad news stories and many difficulties experienced by amateur sports clubs, we are delighted to be able to report a really good news story. This development will make a huge difference to us. "The pitches are deteriorating rapidly and now will be levelled, re-drained, seeded with pitches being on their own separate levels. There will also be floodlight ducting installed to allow further pitches to be used at night. The grounds will also be re-landscaped and new perimeter fencing installed. "The project is environmentally friendly and a win win situation for all parties involved. This is the biggest project the club has embarked on in many years and will elevate the facility to a new level. It is believed to be the largest amateur sports ground improvement being carried out at the moment within the City. Our aim is to encourage the community to join us at Fengate, and our main goal is to provide them with the most enjoyable experience that we can. "By improving the facility we go a long way to doing
24 | Rugby Blindside - Summer 2021
that, and believe that this improvement will be the envy of all the visiting teams who arrive at the club. We have long term plans to build a new clubhouse and the drive to do this is enhanced by this latest venture. The club would like to thank London Rock and Contour Golf for giving us the opportunity to work with us, and we look forward to delivering this project to our members and the larger community within the City.”
Chester RUFC provide update on development plan Phase 1 of Chester RUFC's development plan is almost complete. It has centred around a new drainage system for the club house and the areas that immediately surround it. This involved the installation of a new attenuation tank requiring an excavation of 109m3, which was then filled with 340 soakaway crates measuring 500mm x 500mm x 1075mm. The work was carried out by Ceres Construction Group who competed for the work with GJ Teeson of Ruthin. In theory this should have been a relatively straightforward job, however it soon became apparent that the existing drainage system was, to say the least, in some disarray – little wonder they'd been having so many problems! Special mention therefore must go to Mike, Ben and their team, who performed minor miracles in appalling weather to rectify the issues and give the club the system they desperately needed. Once the drainage work had been completed they then made good the ground and laid tarmac throughout. They have also levelled the potholes in the car park, and although this will not be a long term solution it is the most cost effective and pragmatic way of addressing the issue. Ceres have left the club with an extremely efficient drainage system and have improved the aesthetic of the club in doing so. They have done a fabulous job for the club and they look forward to their potential involvement in other future projects. Long overdue work on the squash club has now also been completed. It entailed cavity wall insulation, new LED lights, new heaters and most importantly, a new roof! The funding for this project came from squash members, the club's central account and a sizeable grant from Sport England. The finishing touch will be a new sign which will soon adorn the front of the building. Work has also already started on the demolishing of the old clubhouse, although we haven't yet got a definitive date for when the "heavy lifting" will begin.
