Target reached!
Buy a bigger, better model, and more equipment to go with it.
A tractor for our grounds
Newark, Nottinghamshire, United Kingdom
Aim
We are raising money to provide a mini-tractor for our brilliant volunteers to use on our heavily-utilised pitch.
Who are we?
Bassetlaw Bulldogs RLFC is a Rugby League club, based in East Markham, Nottinghamshire, England. It is currently Bassetlaw's only Rugby League Club, formed outside of the traditional heartland rugby league areas of the North of England. From scratch, over a period of 4 years, we have built a club which now hosts 7 junior age groups.
Founded in 2018, the club is located outside the traditional rugby league heartland areas of the North of England. With a prime aim to bring participation in rugby league to all ages, the club began with just two teams. History-makers Bassetlaw Bulldogs RLFC are acclaimed as one of the first two clubs, alongside Immingham Wasps, to ever play a game in the RFL's new flagship Player Development League on 12th May 2018.
The club is a community member of the Rugby Football League. Bassetlaw Bulldogs RLFC is also an outreach ambassador club to the Wakefield Trinity Foundation. Since its inception, the club has played its games as part of the Midlands Junior League, during a season spanning March to October.
It has been a busy close season for Bassetlaw Bulldogs as we plan for our 5th year. We are growing at quite a rate, having begun from a standing start in 2018. This year, we will be rolling out an amazing 8 teams.
Those teams are:
Mixed U7, U9, U11
Boys U13, U15
Girls U11, U13
X-League social touch (for adults and secondary aged pupils)
Why are we crowdfunding?
The club utilises part of the Queen Elizabeth II playing field, sometimes also referred to as ‘Raynor's Field’. Locally, the site is known as East Markham playing field. In 2020, a dedicated Rugby League pitch was installed at the ground, including new rugby posts.
With the rapid increase in teams playing on our field, comes additional wear and tear, like not seen before. We have a fantastic local farmer, Bob Bennett, who cuts our pitch on a regular basis and does a great job, sticking to his cutting schedule.
However, the remaining work to maintain the field lies with the club. This means that we need to mark, roll, fill in rabbit holes and tidy the area when required. Sat at the side of the East Coast Mainline railway, the field attracts wildlife in abundance. This means that there need to be regular repairs, and clean-up of droppings over a large 3-acre area. Substantial rabbit holes need filling before each training session or match. Carting bucket loads of top soil around is no fun and very time-consuming, especially when we have to bring tools with us on the job too. Without doing this vital role, the field will quickly become dangerous and unplayable.
We have lots of budding volunteers who give their time to run the club, but setting up and tidying up the field on matchdays, or for training sessions, is hard, time-consuming work without mechanical support. We would like a small garden tractor to help us do all of those things. This would mean that our volunteers could use the time they save to do other great things for the club. Our storage facility is 300m from the field and everything needs to be stored in there securely. Having a mini-tractor will massively reduce the time and burden on our volunteers.
The video below highlights the enjoyment that our young people get from playing rugby league in a safe environment. The video shows what a vast space we have at our ground. It also highlights some of the additional work that needs to be done on the pitch on a regular basis to cover old pitch markings and rutted areas. At first glance, the field looks to be in great condition, during the summer months. However, as usage increases, especially in wet weather, this becomes less true.
How you can play your part
There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.
1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!
2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.
3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!
4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!
How we’ll spend the money raised
We have eyed up a suitable machine to do the job. We need the tractor, a roller, a trailer and some other general tools to help us along. If there's anything left at the end, we will put this towards additional tools and equipment.
Community impact
Over 100 people use the rugby pitch each week. We want this to be double that figure, but need the pitches to be well maintained to allow all the extra use. Our volunteers are very happy to lend their time to do this, but we need the tractor to make this much, much easier and more effective.
Sport England: Active Together has provided £750 of match funding
This project successfully funded on 14th March 2023