Durham City RFC #FlyingHigh Campaign

Aim

Please help us to overcome the ongoing financial challenges presented by the Covid-19 crisis and continue to drive our club forward.

Who we are and what we do

Formed in 1872, Durham City RFC is one of the oldest rugby clubs in County Durham.  We are a true community club in the heart of the city and have always embraced a 'one club' ethos, welcoming young and old as players, coaches and supporters. In addition to our three Senior teams we offer Touch rugby, a competitive Veterans team, a thriving Colts squad, and a vibrant Mini and junior section with over 300 players from U6 to U16, as well as a fledgling Women's squad. Throughout almost 150 years we have remained an open and welcoming rugby club for all.

We are a volunteer-led club, managed by members for members. The Executive Committee provides hands-on day-to-day management and leads a strong, invaluable team of volunteer coaches, administrators, first-aiders and many others working collectively to make our club a success, from running raffles to managing the first team and everything in between.  Members support our successful Rugbyforce Days each year, coming together to help with maintenance and cleaning in readiness for the season. They are keen to support club events and new inititives such as Sunday lunches, introduced in September and designed to give members an opportunity to both use and support their club whilst rugby is still suspended and other activities restricted.

We play a central role in our rugby family, hosting regular meetings for Durham County RFU, Durham Referees’ Society and Durham County RFU Schools Union as well as County training, Senior games and schools' tournaments. Durham University RFC is also a key partner. We host DURFC 1st XV BUCS games as well as their whole club social events, and the boys very much consider our home to be their home too.  A highlight of the 2019/20 season was the return of our traditional Town and Gown game, with DCRFC v DURFC vying for the Fergus King Cup. Won by the university, it will be hotly contested as soon as we are able !

We sit at the heart of our local community too, and are proud to host Durham Hockey Club for post-match teas and committee meetings, Durham County Athletics Association committee meetings and Durham Western Front Association as well as the annual Durham CAMRA 3 day beer festival and 200 service personnel from Durham's annual Remembrance Parade. We are a popular venue for private functions, events and meetings throughout the year.

Our reach into the community also includes contributing to local and national charities. In addition to supporting our local hospice with sponsored walks, bike rides and other challenges, we also hold kit exchanges for any of our own families facing hardship and regularly collect donaions for a local food bank. Each season we designate one of our home 1st XV games as our charity game,  and we have our own real ale, 'Blue and Gold', which is brewed locally and from which a percentage of the sales profits is shared between two rugby charities – the Wooden Spoon and Injured Players Foundation.

The notion of custodianship of our club - caring for what came before for the benefit of the players tomorrow - is rooted in our ethos and we are fiercely proud of our heritage. We cherish our alumni and retired players with an annual Reunion Day, and remember those no longer with us with an in-house game on Boxing Day. Our stand, erected in 1950, is a dedicated war memorial paid for by subscription from the members of the day, and each year our own act of remembrance commemorates the City players who did not come home from each World War. The service is led by our President, with wreaths often laid by multi-generational club families.

We are rightly proud of the City players who have gone on to represent their County, country or become British Lions, but equally so of today's players and supporters who make our club the happy, vibrant place that is Durham City RFC.

But now we need your help

The Covid-19 pandemic brought our 2019/20 season and all other activities to a crashing halt in March, a devestating blow to our club. In addition to losing rugby at all levels, our end of season celebrations, university and county games and the income that they would have brought,  we also lost out on a busy Summer of private functions etc. We have yet to see a tangible start to rugby for the 2020/21 season, and now, training is suspended and our doors are shut once again for a second lockdown, just as we should be heading into the busy approach to Christmas. This has severely curtailed our revenue for almost seven months, although many of the overheads involved in running our club remain.

We have survived thus far by minimising spend as much as possible, maximising new opportunities, such as serving Sunday lunch, taking advantage of government support and using cash reserves which were earmarked for further improvements to the club and facilities. However with the current lockdown, and future rugby, hospitality and community use all likely to be subject to restrictions for the foreseeable future, our traditional funding streams are all exhausted.

We have launched this campaign to help the club not only bridge the financial issues we currently face but also drive further improvements. With your support we can secure our future and keep our blue flag flying high for generations to come !

Our Goal

Your generous support in our hour of need will help our club in the following ways:

• Compensate for the loss of match-day and clubhouse bookings income, which will support all areas of the club while we work through the crisis
• Facilitate ongoing essential maintenance to our clubhouse, including flat roof repairs
• Ensure we are rugby ready, especially implementing measures to keep players, supporters and staff Covid-safe
• Further training for volunteers, enhancing the skills of our Mini and Junior coaches whilst ensuring tht we have sufficient numbers of appropriately qualified coaches with each Age Grade team.
• Continue the development of our Women's team, with coaching, kit and equipment

If we are fortunate to exceed our target, additional funds will help us

• Further improve our changing rooms, showers, disused baths and toilets to ensure safe and appropriate facilities are available for all users

Rewards

The club and it's supporters are kindly providing rewards for donations and pledges, please check regularly on the rewards available as we are adding new ones as often as we can.

In addition, everyone who contributes to our campaign will be recognised on our 'Home Crowd' wall of fame and invited to our #FlyingHigh thank you BBQ.

Thank you !

DCRFC would like to say a huge City thank you in advance to all those who donate or pledge to our campaign. Our promotional video was produced by the very talented Pyro Media completely free of charge: if you think they could help you or your business please click here to find out more.

In addition we would like to also thank  the following for providing time, expertise or rewards to help us succeed:

JA Jewitt (Meats) : Mark Bedworth : Richard Thirkell : Mark Armstrong : Griff Hosker : Hair by Michelle : : RT Plumbing and Heating : The House of Beauty : Miss Moneypennys Cheesecakes : Finbarr's : Players : Richard Wilkinson : The Butterfly Room : Bellini Italian Restaurant : Clem's Fish and Chips : Dunes Adventure Island : Lebaneat : LaLa Bakes : Richard Haward Oysters :

We would also like to thank Sport England for their generous pledge of 40% of our target !

This project successfully funded on 14th December 2020