Saturday 11th September was a huge day in the Club’s history, not only was the new branding and logo for the Club being revealed to the Sponsors, players (current and former) and members, but so were the fantastic developments to the attic area which were opened up for all to see. Club Chairman, Gary Sharp gratefully thanked Mike Hill (Chief Executive of The Hills Group Limited) for the financial help that his Company provided for the Club to allow this project to be completed.
During the pandemic, Marlborough Rugby had been very busy with the planning and execution of redeveloping the Clubs facilities which were woefully inadequate. The Club only had two changing rooms, each with a communal shower area and separate toilet. As the Club has been steadily growing in numbers and teams over the last few seasons, this was no longer suitable especially if both the home teams were playing visiting teams at home.
Last season, the Club also introduced for the first time, a girls’ team of mixed ages which is planning to host some home matches this season. There is also the aim of introducing a senior women’s side. Therefore, our facilities needed to be vastly improved and as the Club is unable to develop outwards it had to go upwards.
Once the plans had been drawn up and permission given for the attic to be converted, an application was made to the Landfill Communities Fund (LCF) which is administered for Hills by Community First, the Rural Community Council for Wiltshire.
A grant for the sum of £10,000 was provided to the Club to help with the cost of the electrical and ventilation work that was required for building two new, purpose-built changing rooms at either end of the attic, each with four individual showers and toilets.
Club Chairman, Gary Sharp showing Mike Hill the new and improved upstairs changing rooms.
The Club, and especially the players are very grateful to ‘The Hills Group Limited’ and ‘Community First’ for their support to provide a more modern and functional area which will be enjoyed by players for years to come. These new facilities align with the Club’s ethos of ‘welcome, inspire and excel’ and all players will benefit whether they are young or older, male, or female. These are fantastic facilities which the Club is very proud of.
