Gateshead RFC Community Unity help fund our future

Aim: The COVID-19 pandemic has had a devastating effect; stopped all rugby matches and social events that would have provided income for our club

Gateshead RFC: Community Unity help fund our future

https://www.gatesheadrfc.com

Link to our website 

Our aim

We have launched this campaign to fund the adaptations necessary to allow rugby matches to take place and to ensure our financial viability in 2021.

We run our own club bar but even in a normal year we depend upon our fundraising events to keep the rugby club afloat.

Our last major expenditure before lockdown was to complete the renovation of the gents toilets in the clubhouse which created enough space in the lobby for a disabled loo.

Summer evenings on the patio pre-Covid

Our hall:

Ready for a special private party planned by one of our members before March 2020

Christmas Eve in the Bar 

Enjoyed by so many members for the last 50 years - but not in 2020

COVID-19 Lockdown had a serious effect on our finances

The ongoing lockdown restrictions have resulted in substantial loss of revenue and we are subsisting on dwindling reserves. We had been building up our reserves to pay for improvements to our changing rooms.  

Whilst we are able to do so, we are providing facilities for our players to train.

Gateshead RFC is community club. We provide rugby for more than 450 boys, girls and adults with many events enjoyed by our wider community. Our groups continue to raise money for local and national charities in 2020. Before COVID our club was used by community groups for various functions and charity events.

Fundraising for Charity

We are proud to reach out to our local community and welcome those from less prosperous parts of Gateshead and the local area. 16% of Gateshead residents live within the most deprived 10% of Lower Layer Super Output Areas (LSOAs) in England.  

Our cyclists raised over £35,000 raised for Macmillan Cancer Support

Fundraising: 5 Stadium Challenge

In May 2020 our first team coaches and players led a charity fund raising campaign in aid of our local Gateshead Food Bank “5 Stadium Challenge”. 200 members covered a total of 3,000 miles on a weekend campaign by walking, running or cycling to raise money for the people in their community during the coronavirus pandemic. Members, players and supporters completed the return distance to rugby stadiums in England, Ireland, France, Scotland and Wales raising over £5,000 for Gateshead Foodbank.   

Gateshead Foodbank

In October 2020 the youth section collected a van full of food for the Gateshead Foodbank.

Events for our local community

We pride ourselves on being a community club and attract thousands of local people to our club to attend a variety of social events including an award-winning annual beer and music festival complete with marquee providing food and bands playing throughout the weekend, as well as lots of beers to try. The summer family fun day originated as a garden fete. In other years we have held gin festivals too. Our fireworks spectacular has always been a sell-out and enjoyed by hundreds of children of all ages.

Annual  Beer and Music Festival

Choose your beer: getting ready to open the doors

Alternative to beer? 

Fireworks Event 2019

2020: Sadly none of these events have been possible since March this year and this has had a devasting effect on our finances.

Our home: Hedley Lawson Park

Location: We are located in Gateshead in the heart of our community. We have two pitches, club house with function room, ageing changing rooms and stand and terrace for our supporters. 

Our grounds allow us to run rugby activities for youngsters and adults as well the as ability to host community events and private parties for our members.

Our history: Gateshead Rugby Football Club, Hedley Lawson Park, Gateshead was formed in1998 by the merger of North Durham RFC and Gateshead Fell RFC. North Durham RFC, Prince Consort Road was formed in 1876. The Fell is thought to have begun life as Bensham RFC in the 1870s. Bensham RFC was one of the seven clubs who founded Durham County Rugby Football Union on 10 October 1876. The club name as Gateshead Fell appeared in 1921. The Fell moved to their current location in 1922.

We are very proud of our players who have represented their countries including the British Lions, and those chosen to play for their county team at all levels.

Gateshead RFC has an established reputation in Durham County, we have a buoyant membership and the enviable ability to field 3 senior mens teams regularly. There is a thriving youth section with teams from Under 6’s up to Under 18’s giving both boys and girls the maximum opportunity to enjoy the sport with a clear policy of developing ‘home grown’ talent to become the players of tomorrow. Our latest venture is to begin to develop a new ladies rugby and keep fit squad.  

Girls Rugby

In pre-Covid times training for the various groups was held on weekday evenings with hundreds of children enjoying rugby on Sundays.

Our well known Groundsman working to prepare for matches

 Our club is managed by our volunteers led by 5 Directors and the General Committee. To run our Club we rely upon the coaches, ground team together with and an army of helpers as well as our excellent Steward.  Each year group of minis and age grade players have their own qualified coach and volunteers.  We are currently trying to train sufficient first aiders to ensure one first aider is present at each match.

The Covid-19 pandemic meant that no rugby matches have been played since March. Unfortunately this also meant that none of our fundraising activities could take place. This has severely affected our revenue for nine months, although the overheads involved in running our club remain. We lost 90% of our income in 2020 but the bills still had to be paid.

Social Distancing adaptation in our Lounge Bar whilst we were allowed to open

When permitted, our volunteers ran a trial of a socially distanced evening event with a meal. This was hugely successful with the small numbers of members allowed; who were so keen to enjoy an evening out!  However in November 2020 we were plunged into Tier 3 restrictions meaning that our bar and clubhouse were closed again.

Social Distancing in our Hall, 

thanks to a local school who loaned exam tables to us

Before hosting rugby matches we need to adapt to social distancing in our changing rooms, toilets and after match provisions in the club house including  one-way routes and partitions in the changing rooms, signage and lots of hand sanitising stations.

Our ground team trying to make a 2m rule

Survival 

We have survived so far by reducing spending to the minimum, taking advantage of support from Gateshead Council and Durham County Rugby as well as using cash reserves which we were hoping to grow to replace our ageing changing rooms. 

However the current continuing lockdown means that our reserves are being used to pay everyday bills and we are concerned for the future if the lockdown continues.

Keeping together

During the lockdown we have tried to keep our Quiz alive and give members something to look forward to by moving to a weekly Zoom quiz.

Now we need your help

Please help us to overcome the financial challenge posed by the Covid-19 pandemic as we try to return to playing rugby and open our club for the enjoyment of our community.  

With your support we can secure our future and keep our club open for the community for generations to come!

Our Goal

We lost 90% of our income in 2020 but the bills still had to be paid.

Please give generously. We need your support in to help our club in the following ways: -

• Help us to be rugby ready for 2021. We hope to be allowed to play matches at all levels as early as January.  To play matches we need to implement social distancing throughout the changing rooms, toilets and after match areas to keep players, supporters and staff safe.
• Fund essential repairs to our changing rooms.
• Help us to develop our new fledgling women’s squad. They need kit.
• Help us to compensate for the loss of income from match-days as well as clubhouse bookings and all special events since March 2020. All possible economies have been put into effect. Sadly we are spending our reserves on day-to-day bills and this money was being saved to begin a fund for necessary major renovation of our ageing changing rooms. 

Rewards

The club and our 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.

Thank you to everyone who has donated Rewards and to all who pledge money towards our campaign.You are all very welcome at our Club.