Their secretary Ian McLean used to fight fires, now he fights for local people as club secretary and junior chairman and as a Durham County Council councillor.

Over four decades’ involvement in the game, Ian has seen an increasing need for the kind of community support his rugby club provides.  In an area of old pit villages on the edge of the North Sea, where unemployment is high and leisure pursuits few, the club has stepped in with sporting opportunities and much more.

Their premises serve several community groups. These include two youth clubs and an afternoon club for older residents. The ladies of the British Legion meet there and they also host a local darts team, an ex-servicemen’s association and are the base for the Eden Hill People’s Centre. The police run community feedback sessions there too.

Says Ian: “An area like ours needs a focal point and people who can help. We have a community worker and assistant community worker and they deal with everything from food poverty to domestic violence. As other clubs and centres in the neighbourhood have closed, we are an even more necessary community centre.”

At Horden and Peterlee RFC they believe that sport has a positive impact on the lives of young people and that the club keeps community cohesion intact and boosts morale as an essential home to those who used to work in lost heavy industries.

“As a club it has all been good,” says Ian.  “The camaraderie, the popularity of the sport and the uptake and it’s always great to have social activities alongside sport and fitness.”

This is a really diverse and inclusive club with youngsters from local state schools and independent schools making enduring friendships

“That is one of the beauties of the place,” says Ian, “real integration, real team spirit. We’ve got 260 kids registered.”

If you want to find rugby’s social conscience look no further.  Last summer the club was open for a day or two each week and took four coachloads of families for a day out.  They work closely with the local food bank and have recently been making up Christmas parcels for people who really need them over the festive period.

Ian comes from a rugby playing family, having started playing at the club aged ten and his twins Alex and Niah play for the U15 boys’ team and U15 girls’ team. The club runs three senior men’s team, a women’s team, Under 15 and Under 18 girls and is building an U13 girls’ squad. They are also heavily involved in CBRE All Schools working with Dene Academy, St Bede’s School and Shotton Hall Academy.

A recent building project created two additional changing rooms so that no longer do teams need to change up the road. They’ve added floodlights so that training can take place in the evening during the winter months and they host everything from wakes to weddings.

Every Sunday sees a Bingo Extravaganza hosted by Britain’s number one bingo caller, Davo  - it’s 21 key of the door for the entire community.