Specsavers Division One East club Risca feel they are almost 100% ready to hit the ground running once rugby resumes.
Risca chairman and WRU Community Board member Colin Wilks said “The club basically ground to a halt in a matter of hours once Storm Dennis hit us. If it wasn’t for the local community helping us out on that Sunday and in the days after that, we would have been in a right pickle.
“It was quite emotional really. You know you can rely on your regular volunteers and they all came to help but there were also many we hadn’t seen for a long time and others we didn’t even know turning up to lend a hand which was quite touching. We had such a brilliant response from the public that we were able to share out the workload between us.
“We did enough initial remedial work that we were able to open one bar by the Monday night for a our darts group and functioned as best we could to keep some income coming in but then we closed everything back down to replace carpets, furniture etc and then Covid happened.
“We’re thankful to the WRU financial support, with each club receiving £1k and benefitted from the rateable relief . I know some clubs have been able to pull funds in from other streams too.
“We’re almost back to 100% now, thanks to the help and support from the community who have helped us practically too, we’re almost ready to open depending on government and WRU advice.
“Good financial management has helped us and although we’re all desperate to see rugby ball being passed around, we’re thankful that we should be able to survive through this period.”
“On the field, we have made some changes, we have a new coaching structure, we’ve been meeting players on zoom and trying to keep everyone engaged. There is actually quite a buzz around the place despite being in lockdown and we are raring to go really.”
NHSOB are also indebted to their whole community. Chair Jason Smith said, “The experience has restored our faith in humanity. We had members, players, supporters all asking what they could do to help. Others clubs too were very quick to offer practical help especially one of our closest clubs Caerleon. Hear more from NHSOB club representatives about their Storm Dennis experience on the Club Development page of the WRU Game Locker – CLICK HERE
