Dewsbury Celtic RLFC Community Room

Who are we?

• Dewsbury Celtic RLFC is an amateur community rugby league club run by volunteers, providing sport and social facilities to the community of Westown, in Dewsbury and the surrounding area. Our primary sport is Rugby League, we are one of the oldest amateur clubs in the Country. 

We have 

We have 9 junior rugby league teams with 150 + children aged from 3 years to 18 – Boys and Girls  

We also have 2 adult teams with 70 members

We also have an alliance with newly formed rounders team Celtic Sloggers

Westown is a Super Output area and is in the bottom 10% of the most deprived areas in the UK. Our Club support the residents of our community in many ways including providing a social hub for the whole family. 

 Or aims are :-

• To support local families when they are in times of need/hardship 
• Keep children (3 years to 18 years / girls and boys) off the streets 
• Keep children and adults (Open Age teams) fit and healthy 
• To enable children and adults to develop as individuals, instilling confidence, discipline and self-belief 
• To encourage team work and the belief that there is strength in numbers
• Provide role model support and mentorship to the youth in our care 
• Use local businesses as suppliers 

Where are we now and what do we want to achieve 

As a club COVID hit us hard, players were slow to return but thanks to funding including received during the pandemic we have started to recover. We were able to refurbish our changing rooms and pay the first two years of registration fees for players as people returned to work and we returned to play. Funding from this crowd funder will allow us to continue our recovery with year on year increase in player numbers. We feel improving our facilities we will continue to encourage players to the club and retain them. We are keen to in a sense progress as a sporting provider and now boast a close alliance with a rounders team, Celtic Sloggers,,using our facilities and we hope to expand further with other sports to add resilience to our club. Working together to increase activity in sport and ensuring we have sufficient funds to provide improved facilities and future proof our organisation.

Why are we crowdfunding?

We are in desperate need of improving our community room. 

The room is in major need of repair having last been improved in the late 1980s

We want the room to be modernised to make it more welcoming for our players and their families. Where they feel they can stay and be off the streets.

We also want the room to be accessible for others within the community where we can host community groups and provide a space for them.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We will use the money to repair current furniture, improve the room layout, add more space for families. 

Community impact

Creating a functional community space will 

• Provide a better match day experience to our existing players who currently go back to the community room after their games and sit on broken furniture.
• Improving our facilities will encourage new sporting groupsto join our club which contributes to our sustainability plans. We already host a rounders team.
• Improve our facilities will encourage other community groups s to join our club which contributes to our sustainability plans.

The outcomes we want to achieve are: 

• Increased participation in the junior game 
• Retention of existing players
• Provide a community suitable for our players
• Provide a modern community room for other groups within our community

Make our match day experience a good one so that families want to come to the club, play sport, spend time with their family and friends in a nice safe environment. 

We had a fantastic crowdfunder in 2021, we raised £20k to improve our changing rooms and keep the club going through Covid. We are hoping that with your help we can achieve our target again this year! With such fantastic support as a club and community the donations made our project a reality and without this it would not have been possible! So please help us achieve this years target! Can you help?

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. Fundraise for us. If you want to run your own fundraiser – 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!