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October 2009 - AKL Plea
Part of the fundraising activity has been to make sure that people in the wider Community know and understand what we are looking to achieve and build at Underley Park. A recent article in AKL has been well recieved and we would like to thank those who read the piece in AKL and were spirited enough to have already made a contribution towards the cause.
An Apology .......... (but do you see a duck move its legs)
You could be forgiven for thinking that the brave new world of the KLRUFC Development Plan was dying a death and barely twitching under the covers over the past 18 months. No razamattazz, no hospital thermometer with neon lights flashing the shortfall, no half yearly / quarterly / monthly / weekly / daily / hourly progress reports and precious little fund raising activity. Lack of information or updates is bound to cause uncertainty and therefore all information will be posted in future on this page so that we have one reference point for all . Let us take stock of where we are now, what has been done and what is still to be done.
Much like the old Golf GTi advert of the man coming out of the Casino in Monte Carlo, if you had wanted to start fundraising and looking to the Public purse, you would not have started in earnest during 2008/09. These were the years that the shutters came down swiftly with Public money and corporate coffers bare and lack of funding options and/or constant rejection is hardly either good copy or an enthusiatic read. The stark truth here, without meaning to be overly pessimistic, is that it may be a number of years before this position changes materially and meanwhile the backed-up tsunami of worthy causes will perhaps drown us out of the equation thereafter. Whatever is ultimately done will be down to us all in the end and what we can do towards it, whether it is time, expertise or cash.
On very positive notes though, let us firstly remember what has been done so far. Whilst these were admittedly the smaller parts of the Development Plan, they were detailed items that the RFU felt were not high enough priority to receive financial support from them. However, they have been fully funded by fundraising and sponsorship and have improved the Club and it offering substantially.
- The additional pitches that were developed have meant that the three main pitches have much reduced usage and will hopefully continue to look like bowling greens for the rest of the season, quite aside from easing the position for the Mini, Youth and Colts.
- The new access road has been driven through. Yes there are imperfections that will be sorted out shortly but it has opened up new areas for parking and has helped the site become much easier for all, whether it is the club, visitors or the Show.
- Further parking areas have been developed on the far side of the barns.
- The floodlights have been upgraded and renewed
- All the pre-build work, plans, planning etc etc are in place
- Next year, the superbowl may be dugout and levelled off prviding a proper Colts pitch and giving the club the facility to look at switching the 1st and 2nd pitch round at some stage in the future if deemed applicable.
All of these things have been completed or are in hand but they do not affect the Clubhouse and were not part of the agreed funding arrangements with the RFU. At the risk of repeating the known facts, we have the support from the RFU and the Rugby Football Foundation to the tune of £250,000 to help with the provision of additional changing rooms and the fairly small scale re-development of parts of the clubhouse - kitchen extension / reworking of the toilet provisions etc as laid out in the plans agreed with the RFU. As has been detailed previously, currently their funds only become available once the total balance has been raised. At the same time, as with most applications for funding, you also do not qualify for help if the project that you are applying for has already been started, just the Catch 22 to make life difficult.
VAT does not help our cause adding another say £85,000 to our costs but the total we still need to raise (including the VAT) is £325,000. Is this a daunting amount? Bearing in mind as a CASC status club, we qualify for Gift Aid, this could bring the total down to £260,000. Whilst we had hoped and will continue to look for large chunks to help us on our way, ultimately it will boil down to finding 1000 people prepared to help with £260 rather than one source for £325,000.
So, if you have been wondering what the position is, there you have it. If you have any bright ideas, have any suggestion or are willing to help with the fundraising, please do not hide your light under a bushel - the problem is quantified, all that is needed now is sufficient people to help gather in the pledges and donations.
Development Update, Sep 23rd 2009 - The Marmite was too thin
If you had been keeping up with the posting in June, you may have been wondering what had happened to the bid to Sport England for a slice of the Sport in Rural Communities pie. Much like Neville Chamberlain (again), I am sorry to have to tell you that no joy was forthcoming. It is obviously not what we were looking to hear and deeply disappointing. It will be very interesting to follow this through to see what is deemed as a deserving cause and hope we too can recognize its potential value albeit not in our own patch.
Whilst not looking to wallow in the self pity and collective Schadenfreude of the failure group, we have been trying to discover who and what has been successful in at least getting into the second round. As we understand it from SLDC, none of their supported projects have been taken on (despite being one of the highest Rural zones) and a variety of other bids that we knew about have been knocked back. Once we have had the letter back from Sport England we shall be looking to discover the percieved weakspots of our case and look to bolster them up for the future.
We have received a number of emails from Ted Mitchell, our base level support at the RFU:
''This is clearly very disappointing. I have been involved in two RFU co-ordinated bids in Yorkshire and Northumberland which have both been rejected, but to be honest I am far more disappointed that the Kirkby Lonsdale application has not been encouraged. Like you say, there is no magic wand, but we will continue to support the club wherever we can and as soon as new funding opportunities arise you will be the first to know.''
Liam Nicholls from Cumbria RFU noted:
I too will be interested in the schemes that Sport England choose for this batch of money as i have been confident in the KL bid all the way through as it 'seemed' to fit all the criteria that SE were asking for as well as having an excellent track record as a club and the ability to deliver all outcomes.
No one said it would be easy and certainly not in current circumstances with a -£175bn at the last count being passed on to future generations. We shall need to dust off, re-group and see where to go to from here.
Development Update, June 2009
14:14, 21st June, 2009 could go down as an important minute in the history of KLRUFC. This was when our application was submitted to Sport England for the required funding to bring the club's development plan into reality - though nothing is certain.
It was with a degree of excitement when we heard that there was to be a stream of potential funding that we could actually apply for. This fact alone was a good start. When the full details were published under the theme of Sport in Rural Communities, and the criteria would seem to have been based on our project, we knew that this was going to be important to the success of the project. When we looked on their website and saw that the pictures included rugby players with the KL colours, we also wondered if this was a good portent.
However, England is still largely rural and the total fund of £10m means that the Marmite could be spread very thinly even though they are looking at projects of a size such as ours. When there are so many projects throughout the country that have all been starved of funding over the past year or so, there is huge interest and Sport England have already said that they are expecting it to be hugely oversubscribed. Whilst we know that we have the support of the RFU, Rugby Football Foundation, SLDC and virtually anyone who has actually seen our project, the competition for the funds will undoubtedly be fierce and we can but hope. The first phase is a review of the applications that needed to be submitted by June 30th. Suitable applicants will then be advised whether they are through to the second round with final decisions near to the end of the year.
This does not alter our own need to 'Self Help' with donations and pledges, backed with Gift Aid - more to follow on this in the very near future.........
Update - Jan, 2008
This is it folks, it is now down to us.
The end of January has been an important date in the development diary as we had to make sure that all the plans, tenders for work, approvals etc etc etc had been received so that the RFU and Rugby Football Foundation could confirm the position. As has been detailed, whilst they are providing a substantial chunk of the necessary funds, they are not providing the whole amount and other funding is needed.
To access the RFU/RFF funds, we need to be able to show that the balance of the funding is either available now or has, at least, been pledged. As you may have read or heard in the press, funding sources (certainly of the scale necessary for the development at KLRUFC) just seem to have dried up over the past 6 months. Whilst we are continuing to pursue any faint sniff of a potential grant, we shall have to be realistic and understand that if we want it doing within the timescale we want, we shall have to raise funds from members of the Club and the wider community towards the project.
The Funding Brainstorm session in December brought out a number of good ideas that have now been pulled together in readiness and that time has now come. From general talking, there seemed to be a willingness to help but a degree of uncertainty as to the what and when. We need to pull these funds together now, either with the hard cash in the bank or suitable pledges so we know exactly where we stand.
Realistically, we shall need to raise £250,000 to be able to complete the priority work. This as one lump sum may seem daunting, but with about 1000 people attached to the Club in one way or another, if we can all become 'micro' fundraisers, the total target is achievable.
Please follow the link and see how you can help or what you could do
Your Club Needs You
Funding Brainstorm Session,
Dec 4th, 6.30pm start. The Clubhouse, Underley Park
From the outset, the finance for the development has always been an issue but we needed to understand the proper picture and timescale involved before going to ask for the money.
We now have a much clearer picture of the financials and are looking to start the work at the back end of this season, with the finance in place. The Club needs as much help as possible in spreading the net as widely as possible and as members of the club, we can all do our bit and give as many people as possible the chance to say ‘No, I don’t want to Help’ as along the way, we shall find a few more that would be happy to help.
November 2007
The work starts now - not the actual building work itself but the preparation and fundraising.
All (bar the important one) of the jigsaw pieces are now in place – the Planning Permission has been received, the details for the tenders will have gone out and we are progressing quickly towards the end of January, by which time the project needs to be finally given to the RFU to secure their element of the funding for the project in their budget for next year. Meanwhile we have rallied together all manner of bodies – SLDC, Craven Council and a vast array of schools etc to provide added support for our forthcoming bid for additional funding from Lottery – not guaranteed but we have to be hopeful.
We have put together a pack – both hardcopy and/or electronic – that can be sent out to anyone explaining what we are looking for and why. What we really need at this point is to collate the names and addresses of people that you may know who might be interested for whatever reason to spread a little happiness and help support the project. This could range from small, regular contributions to small one-off payments or forget the small bit and look at something that will help reduce the shortfall significantly. We would then look to send out the information and follow up to see what could be possible. There are a wide range of possibilities to maximize any tax advantages which we should as a Club with CASC status make full use of.
Come on down to the Clubhouse on Tuesday, 4th December and help in the most important part of this whole project.
September 2007
Much work and gnashing of teeth has been going on since the last comments were made on the development of the Club. That being said, it would appear that we are almost there as far as the plans for the building are concerned with some minor adjustments regarding the number of loos and square centimetres per person. As the palns are due to be sent to SLDC for approval in early September, to allow them to go out to tender, we shall be able to post the 'finals' in the near future.
Thereafter we have the Black Hole of Funding.
As we sat round the Wishing Well a year or so ago, throwing pebbles in and waiting to hear the plop, there was silence - a deafening silence. Now, we can at least throw a stone in and hear a splash but unfortunately, it shows that it is a long way down. We are now coming to the biggest part of the whole project, pulling together the financials and this is where all energy is to be directed over the coming months hopefully with some major grants to help us on our way.
Meanwhile, forewarning and forearmed - attention all dusty chequebooks .....
June 2007
It may seem that not much has been happening since the last report in August of last year but that has been far from the case.
Since then, prior to Christmas 2006, we presented our case to the RFU North West Development Committee and this was received favourably, followed by a further meeting at the Club when they wanted to walk the course and ask questions of our plans. This was followed by another month or so whilst they deliberated their views.
We are delighted to be able to say that KLRUFC has been given priority status for the provision of additional changing rooms and shower facilities. We are now in the process of pulling together all the detailed plans and knitting together the funding package that will be needed.
Please click the link below and view the current plans. We would be grateful if you could send any comments or ideas to develop@klrufc.co.uk and whilst there are no guarantees, if they improve things further, you never know, your imprint could be incorporated into the final plans.
Whilst the RFU agreed that the changing and showers were a priority, the competitive nature for any grants means that we have to show that our needs are greater than any other clubs, therefore, some of our other ideas have had to take a back seat for the time being. The plans will be on show at the the AGM on June 21st which may give an opportunity to bring your suggestions.
August 2006
Revised Development in process of being presented to Committee and RFU. Details will be posted once agreed.
Headlines:
Additional Shower, Changing and toilet facilities
New Mini Youth Pitches to be made playable to relieve pressure on main pitches
Improvements to lighting
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