It might have been the off-season for most of the club but many of us have been continuing to make improvements to the club facilities throughout the summer months.

The Club, led by Lee Allen and Marcus Trott, has been prioritising Clubhouse improvements and then sourcing grants, canvassing opinion and working with the Exec Committee and suppliers to deliver as much as possible...all in tight financial circumstances.

Hot on the heels of last years S106 grant from MK Council to replace the floodlights, Marcus has been very successful at grant hunting again this year! Initially securing a grant from MK Council for 50% of the solar/battery installation costs, we fortuitously secured the other 50% of the cost from the Petsoe End Wind Farm charity - A huge thank you to both these organisations. Without this support the club would have needed to spend all of our annual development budget on one project! A mini competitive tender process was held in the early summer and a specialised solar company from Milton Keynes was selected to complete the work prior to the new season commencing. We are pleased to say this was achieved and we are seeing value from our investment already as we produce ad store our own electricity and reduce our need to purchase from the grid. The benefits of this project will be huge in the future - a conservative estimate (from the theoretical calculations) is predicting a £600 per month saving on our electricity bill!

If you would like to know more about the project, the grants, the savings we will be achieving and even a demo of the yield generation on an iPhone app (!) – speak to Marcus or Lee.

As that grant application was so easy to complete, Marcus went on a mission to secure more grant funding. This time to replace the old double-glazed windows in the clubhouse. This was secured with minimal fuss and the work due to be completed in early October by a local company and long-term sponsors of the club – 3 Shires Glazing (3SG).

Separately Tom W, Teresa and Marcus have been working with the RFU on a Social Spaces initiative they are running currently with all rugby clubs in England. This grant is match-funded, with the RFU matching our investment (up to £20K in total - £10k from each party) to make clubhouse improvements before next summer’s Women’s World Cup. A number of mini-projects (including creating a purpose build bin store to smarten the front of the clubhouse up, new spotlight fixtures and fittings in the clubhouse, some new furniture and bar improvements to name a few) were put forward as part of our proposal. We are pleased to say that we have been informed recently that we’ve been successful in our application. It will be full-steam ahead on these projects to have them all completed by the end of this rugby season.

Match funding...where will we get £10k from?? Well, Marcus negotiated a sponsorship and marketing deal with Bovis Homes when they first arrived at the Yardley Road development. This is still ‘paying dividends’ with the club receiving a final £10k payment last week (based upon the volume of houses sold in the Bovis Homes development). How fortunate!

As the old saying goes… Good things happen to good people!

A massive thanks, from The Club, to Lee and Marcus for making these conversations and ideas become reality!

PS, If you are interested in joining the Club Development committee, either to manage grant applications, project manage suppliers or even to help with upgrade activities, please make yourself known to either Marcus, Lee or Smudge.