There is a lot of positive news coming out of the club at the moment about the improvements to the clubhouse, our grounds, and our external surroundings.
Stirling Petanque Club is going to set out a Bouledrome to the side of the big hall between the allotments. This will eventually attract visitors from around the UK and Europe to Bridgehaugh, allowing them the use of the club’s facilities, and making them a part of our sporting community. We look forward to developing a partnership with them.
Our men’s toilets, at the entrance of the tunnel, will soon be refurbished, this work starts in October. We have managed to obtain a grant for this work from the Coalfield Regeneration Trust and our thanks go to them for assisting us with this project. We also intend to upgrade the toilets in the hallway, outside the entrance to the Crichton suite, and improve the other entrance to the club.
All of the above will cost thousands of pounds and our newly formed Grants Committee will be working away to source suitable funding sources. If you can assist the Grants Committee in any way please contact me directly.
We are also very lucky to have our Groundforce Crew who are going to assist us with the maintenance regime of our pitches. By giving us their time and use of their expensive equipment we are able to save thousands of pounds and use this money for rugby purposes. My thanks go to John Hope, Willie Dick, John Scobbie, and Andrew Mclaren, this further evidences a fantastic level of support for the club.
As a club, we can bring in outside contractors to undertake the improvements to the club. As I have said before, all of this will cost thousands of pounds. However, initially, we are also looking for volunteers to paint both the Clubrooms and the lower walls of the Parker Suite, to improve the flower beds and remove the weeds at the front and the surrounds of the club.
One of our other infrastructure improvement projects is to replace the ceiling in the Parker Suite. This will really help the suite, as Bryan Robertsons images of our rugby community have already made a huge difference to both the look and the feel of the suite
In addition, the photographs of all of our homegrown rugby stars, with their international jerseys, will return to the walls of the main clubrooms. You may note the plaques in the clubrooms and photographs of the winning and present teams are up in the Crichton suite. Before we do anything further we are now looking for volunteers to assist with painting, the walls, and woodwork in both the clubrooms and Parker suite.
It doesn’t end, we also want to get a sponsor partner to will help us plant and maintain the nursery beds at the main entrance and at the side of the Parker suite. At the moment we just need to spray the weeds and remove all the dead plants, so if there are any green-fingered enthusiasts out there please contact me
A special plea!! Can we get rid of the curtains in the Clubroom and in the Parker suite? What about new curtains in the County Tartan? If anyone knows of a person/company who could help with this, either an individual or a company who possibly wants to partner or sponsor, and could assist with this, please put them in touch with me.
Lastly, we have been with Raging Bull our kit and clothing for a number of years, and our agreement runs out next year. we have now invited several suppliers to tender for the contract. The tender exercise will take place over the next three months, the club will be represented by both directors, players, and coaches on the tender panel. We will announce the successful bidder by February of 2022 and keep all members update on the progress with this exercise.
John Gibson
President 2021 / 2022
