Silhillians Rugby Club Facility Development

Aim

We aim to upgrade the pitch side spectator shelter, player dugouts and disabled/pedestrian access to our main rugby pitch.

Who are we?

Originally forming in 1932 under the name of Solihull Old Boys, the rugby club had many homes in the early years, from Broomfields to Solihull Hospital, Mill Lane to Dingle Lane, with a snooker room even being used in-between.

It was in 1948 that the club renamed as The Old Silhillians Association, ahead of a move to Copt Heath in 1967. Since then, Copt Heath has been our home, albeit with some changes to incorporate the wider community in 1982, with the club renamed Silhillians RUFC and being open to all. The Silhillians Sports Club and Conference Centre was born in 2015 after a major overhaul of the clubhouse and changing facilities.

“What hasn’t changed since those formative years, has been our unwavering dedication to serving the people and communities of Solihull and the surrounding villages!” - Andrew Clutterbuck, President SRUFC

(Check out our video at the bottom for a better insight)

Where do we want to be?

Our new 10 year strategy was released in 2020, and highlights the direction the club are moving in. Whilst looking to grow the adult game for both men and women, we also look to continue growing the Mini and Junior section to support a record number of children and families.

Alongside safeguarding Copt Heath and Silhillians RUFC as a mainstay for future rugby lovers in the West Midlands, we will continue to work tirelessly in creating an environment that is inclusive to all, regardless of rugby interests, background or demographic.

Here at Sils we see scope in supporting communities in a time when togetherness and opportunity mean so much, whilst doing this we shall not lose sight of the need and hunger to support our club family and all associated members.

Without our loyal and proud membership group, the club would not have the ability to be so ambitious both on and off the field. We believe that offering new opportunities to our current members, will only further enhance relationships but simultaneously benefit them as members of Silhillians RUFC.

Why are we crowdfunding?

• Improve player and spectator health, safety, and wellbeing.
• Increase the numbers of those both participating and watching rugby at SRUFC
• Improve access to viewing of matches for those with physical disabilities
• Improve the appearance and maintenance of facilities at SRUFC

As mentioned previously, Sils are nothing without our members and we want to ensure we continue to service both theirs and the local communities needs. The feedback is that our members would like us to improve both their viewing and playing experience by providing timely repairs and upgrades to our pitch side facilities 

How we’ll spend the money raised ?

We are looking to secure £25,000 to complete the following . . .

Spectator shelter and dugout upgrades

These will help to ensure the club is a safer place for all whilst enabling us to maximise the experience of all members. With more members joining and more games being played, these are timely upgrades for the club to make, and supports various member feedback we have received.

As you can see our existing spectator shelter is in dire need of improvement after originally being gifted to the club by John Thorpe in the mid 70’s. We would love to install something similar to the above picture with an area to enable our wheelchair bound supporters to also shelter in adverse weather conditions.

The pictures below show the state of our current team dugout shelters which have suffered extensively over time. Again we would like to replace these with brand new shelters as shown in the picture, below left.

Pitch side disability access improvements

Sils are a rugby club focussed on inclusivity and positive actions; therefore, we feel it is crucial that we improve the accessibility to our pitches for club members, friends, family and any visitors that come to Copt Heath. Better access would help us engender a feeling of family and inclusivity and give everyone a fair opportunity to watch their loved one’s play.

Dreaming Bigger!!

Should our initial crowdfunding campaign be successful, as a club we have identified two stretch targets that we feel will also positively impact both our members and wider communities whilst complimenting our main project. Work has been required on one of these areas for approximately 10 years now, and we would like to achieve this before our 2023/24 season kicks off. These are:

New gym equipment

After guidance from several of our members who specialise in health, fitness and rehabilitation we have identified a list of essential equipment we would like to furnish our new gym. All of our previous equipment was incredibly tired, damaged or simply worn out so was discarded when we closed our previous “gym” which after 20 plus years was totally unsuitable for our membership.

Further enhanced pedestrian & disabled access

Other areas of our grounds would benefit from extra slabbing and formal pedestrian walkways being established to stop wear and tear to the grassed areas and meaning our members haven’t got to wade through mud to get to various pitches. This will also vastly improve accessibility to our grounds for wheelchair bound members by ensuring their wheelchairs do not get bogged down in the muddy conditions.

How our project will be United by Birmingham 2022

After such a successful Commonwealth Games being held right on our doorstep, with the eyes of the world on the city and surrounding areas, we now look to continue its legacy focussing on more regional and localised support.

With so many inspired and excited by the Games, including a great many of our members who volunteered, we see it as our responsibility to be an ongoing provider of opportunity to those wishing to engage in physically active lifestyles. See a few pics below of our family who put in hundreds of hours at the games.

Our facility upgrades will allow for us to connect with more people, and ensure that the legacy of Birmingham 2022 will live on by featuring the games’ motto ‘Sport Is Just The Beginning’ in a prominent place within the crowd shelter itself!

By making the improvements to our infrastructure and pitch side areas we aim to increase the membership and participation of the local community in our sport and provide a home where we can build commonwealth champions of the future.

Top Left: Andrew Clutterbuck, President of Silhillians RUFC. Top Right: Brad Parkes, U8’s Lead Coach. Bottom: Steve Tabb, (far right) Chairman of Old Silhillians Hockey Club.

Our Ultimate Goal!

Ultimately these improvements and the money we raise is aimed at four core areas:

• Increasing membership and participation within the club
• Ensuring the health, safety and wellbeing of our members and visitors
• Investing in our infrastructure to enable us to plan for the future of our club and community
• Providing a grass roots club for future Commonwealth champions to build their love of rugby

How you can play your part

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make our projects a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success if we are to reach our match funding target!

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 wont need any bank details. Just a fun idea!

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made