Brilliant season end for Belper
Belper in Derbyshire, one of England’s first mill towns where owners provided their workers with cottages and schools, may have changed over the decades. However, the community spirit remains, with local business benefactors helping the Belper rugby club to complete an impressive extension and reopen its doors.
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Following Belper’s celebration of winning the Papa John’s National Community Cup, there was more to applaud when the clubhouse was officially opened by the RFU President Nigel Gillingham and the local MP Mrs Pauline Latham, with a special guest appearance on screen from Kevin Sinfield OBE, who all congratulated Belper on their vision and amazing new facility.
Modern facility in heart of community
With various Derbyshire businesses supporting the rebuild, the clubs’ membership had also been working extremely hard, with a volunteers’ day the previous weekend ensuring that the clubhouse was looking fantastic for the opening. Significant capital was raised, the club also using the government’s winter sports loan to deliver the project, which will help Belper to continue to grow the game locally, while also making the club financially secure for the future.
The club held a touch rugby festival during the afternoon, followed on Sunday by a women’s and girls’ festival which attracted over 50 players.
Jackie Dyer, the club’s Chair said: “We are very grateful to our local business supporters and our members for all their help in completing this project. After a couple of expensive flooding episodes, and coming out of the pandemic, we knew we had to diversify our revenue streams and use our clubhouse differently. It was too small for our growing membership and was outdated.
“We've developed a modern facility in the heart of our community which everyone can enjoy and be proud of, which celebrates our local heritage and makes the most of our beautiful location. We are already inundated with booking enquiries which is fantastic.”
