Background
Chobham Rugby Club is applying to extend our clubhouse building and make it fit for purpose for our current size , membership and community purpose. We are a large sports club with nearly 2,000 members and our present clubhouse was designed and built in the 1980s – a different era when community rugby was a sport played predominantly by male adults. That has changed and the facilities at the club need to change to ensure we provide facilities capable of providing community rugby for all.
Today, we have over 800 active players from under 5s to over 60s, both male and female, across many inclusive formats of the game – mini/junior rugby, touch rugby, senior men & women, mixed ability (vulnerable adults) and walking rugby. These players bring parents, carers, siblings, and partners to the club that doubles our community reach in size.
Our facilities are now insufficient and inadequate for our diverse membership – they do not cater for adult females and young players alongside adult males. In addition, they do not meet the criteria set by Sport England and RFU.
In addition, in recent years Chobham Rugby Club has extended the use of its facilities to volunteer run groups and charities such as Woking & Sam Beare Hospice, Cancer Testing South and Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). This has enabled fundraising events, clinics testing hundreds of children for heart defects and the screening of over 400 men for prostate cancer. In Chobham and surrounding area, there is a lack of suitable facilities to put on community events with large meeting halls and large carparks for charities & local groups to use.
Plans
The proposed clubhouse extension will provide facilities to ensure Chobham RFC meet the design criteria of Sport England and RFU to cater for our players – together with improving our social spaces on offer to our members and the local community:
- 2 additional 20 person changing rooms with en-suite showers and toilets. This will provide facilities capable of supporting our men, women and junior boys and girls teams whilst providing the necessary privacy
- New Match Official changing room with integrated shower and toilet – key as we now have both male and female officials taking charge of games
- Brand new entrance lobby
- Larger clubhouse function room, capable of providing enough space for our players post-match meals, club and enabling more community-led activities.
- Enhanced and extended kitchen facilities
- Enhanced and extended bar facilities with outside servery
- New Clubroom / Meeting Room for use by club members and local community groups
YOUR CLUB NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT
In order to progress these ambitious plans, we have applied for grants for which we need to demonstrate strong support from our membership and local community. These grants will be complemented by club reserves.
We have applied for a significant grant from Your Fund Surrey the Community Projects fund managed by Surrey County Council who are currently considering our application.
We urgently need to show our members and local community support our application – this can be done in two ways – if you have time – please do both :
- Please go to the YourFundSurrey “Have your say” page by using the button below and show your support for our project – click the button below and click “Agree” on the YourFundSurrey page to show your support.
- Additionally, emails of support should be sent to our President, Nigel Heslop at which we can use in our YFS and other grant applications
Support OUR GRANT APPLICATION
Use the button below to go to the YourFundSurrey Chobham RFC grant page and head to the bootom of the page to provide your support.
SEND US AN EMAIL OF SUPPORT
Use the button below to email our President Nigel Heslop words of support for our proposal - highlighting the need for the facilities