HRH The Princess Royal opens Deeside’s new clubhouse
On Wednesday, September 1 Deeside Rugby welcomed HRH The Princess Royal, patron of Scottish Rugby, to officially open their new clubhouse facilities.
In 2019 Scottish Rugby awarded Deeside Rugby £30,000 for the project through the Club Sustainability Fund, a fund designed to help clubs offer a better experience for their members and build capacity to attract new members by investing funding from the National Lottery and BT.
Deeside Rugby’s new clubhouse overlooks two grass rugby pitches and contains a large multi-use space, brand-new kitchen, store and toilets.
Despite the impact of the ongoing pandemic, construction safely began in July 2020 and reached completion in December.
Club President Ian Finlayson, who spearheaded the clubhouse project said: “I’d like to once again thank Scottish Rugby for their investment to this project. This clubhouse will have a profound impact on our ability to offer members a better club experience, draw in more players from the local community, and support us to find new streams of income.
“The support we have had from club members to get our clubhouse ready has been second-to-none. We’ve had players from youth to seniors take on various fitness fundraising challenges, and they’ve helped to raise over £5,000 towards costs for kitchen equipment.”
Scottish Rugby’s Regional Director for the Caledonia North region, Rudi Urbach said: “I am delighted to see Deeside Rugby unveil their new premises. The club put forward a strong application to the Scottish Rugby Club Sustainability Fund, and it was clear that investing in this project would enable players, supporters and the wider community with increased opportunities to engage with each other and the club.”