Who are we?

Paignton Rugby Club, is a rugby union club based in Devon and is over 150 years old! And we have great ambitions to be a central part of our community for another 150 years!

We currently have around 600 members with:

• 6 mixed boys and girls teams (u6-11)
• 5 boys team (u12's-u16's)
• 4 girls teams (u12's-u18's)
• 3 men's teams and 
• 1 ladies team

Our players are of all abilities and backgrounds from throughout Torbay. There is a place for everyone at Queen's Park. Further to our players our club runs on the great work and support of over 50 volunteers who cover a whole range of roles including, Coaching, Safeguarding, Groundwork, Club Management, Facilities Management & Fundraising. Our whole community pride ourselves in upholding the RFU Core Values of Teamwork, Respect, Enjoyment, Discipline and Sportsmanship.

As well as our members we fully embrace the local community ethos and welcome other organisations to utilise our facilities and have, for a number of years offered our playing fields out to local schools and community groups.

However our success in running and growing a vibrant and successful community focused club with such a broad membership comes with its challenges! Due to our ever increasing and varied playing membership our off field facilities have been somewhat lacking for a number of years and we are in desperate need of additional upgraded changing room and shower facilities. This is particularly needed to support all of our youth section - on a Sunday at Queen's Park we can see up to 8 matches being played in one day!!

Our new ambitious project aims to remedy this and put the club in a sustainable position going forward for the future. With this new facility the experience will be more enhanced with the offering of fit for purpose changing rooms, toilet and ancillary facilities. This will not only benefit our current members but will enable us to continue to grow and offer more support to our local community.

Why are we crowdfunding?

Our project aims to build a new extension at the Sands Road side of Queens Park, which will offer modern and accessible facilities for changing and showering to our growing number of rugby players of all ages and genders, as well as the wider community, such as schools and sports clubs. The extension will also include a dedicated space for match officials, a first aid room, and a versatile indoor area for various activities. We believe this will enhance the quality and safety of our services and benefit everyone who uses our facilities.

How we’ll spend the money raised

We plan to construct an extension to house:

• New changing rooms;
• New showers;
• New match official changing room;
• New first aid room; and 
• New multi function indoor space. 

The facility will be made available to all users and visitor's to the rugby club, local schools for sports activities along with our playing fields. The money raised will supplement other funding we have obtained via grants, private donations and other fund raising 

Community impact

Torbay is an area of outstanding natural beauty. However like many other seaside towns Torbay has a wide range of economic and social issues. 27% of our population live in the most deprived communities in England.

Sport is an important factor for the well-being and development of individuals and communities. It can provide physical, mental, social and economic benefits to those who participate in it. Some of the benefits of sport in the community are:

- It promotes health and fitness, reducing the risk of chronic diseases and improving the quality of life.

- It fosters social inclusion and cohesion, bringing people together from different backgrounds, cultures and abilities.

- It enhances personal and interpersonal skills, such as self-confidence, teamwork, leadership, communication and problem-solving.

- It creates opportunities for education, employment, entrepreneurship and civic engagement, especially for marginalized groups such as women, youth and people with disabilities.

- It contributes to peace and development, by preventing violence, resolving conflicts, building trust and cooperation, and supporting humanitarian and environmental causes.

Therefore, sport is a powerful tool for positive change in the community. 

Feedback from our players, volunteers and families is full of examples of how joining our club has improved not only their fitness but their confidence, performance at work and school and the feeling of really belonging to a family - Our Cherries Family!

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!