UPDATE ON THE CLUB AND COVID-19
A message from the Chairman…
Well, we have all been in lock down now for over 5 weeks. You all may be wondering what is the position with the club, in terms of our financial position because of the present situation.
Well with regards to maintenance, Brian, Ralph and Harry have been keeping an eye on the place, keeping social distancing of course. Brian has kept the pitches in good order and they have now been treated. Billy the steward has been watching over the bar side of things to make sure everything is still working.
Jacqui, our cleaner is now going in to keep the place ticking over in terms of cleanliness and we thank her very much for that.
So where are we and where we will be financially as we continue to be shut? Well of course we have always prided ourselves on the prudent way we run the club. We are also immensely proud of the fund raising events we have run by our club members to enable us to continue to play rugby at all levels with a fantastic youth section bringing boys and girls through to adulthood with a sound team ethic. This has meant we are in a healthy position.
Of course this has hit us hard so what have we done?
Well we have received grants of £10,000 from the government (through Gateshead Council) and £2,000 from Durham County RFU.
We have scaled down day to day running costs and we are approaching our energy suppliers to see if they will take ‘customer’ readings as we are not using anything like the utilities they have budgeted us for. BT Sport have suspended payments. Heineken have advised us that they will replace all unopened kegs with no extra cost.
The toilet refurbishments have already been budgeted for and monies put aside for that and work on that project will be starting again shortly.
So if we are shut for three months, and I think that’s the least we will be, then we will just about break even in terms of income and expenditure. If we are shut for six months then we will incur more in terms of expenditure over income and that figure will be know nearer that sort of time. However the treasurer’s estimates indicate that we will be able to cope with it.
This is not to say that things won’t change and we may be in need of some fundraising ideas and we will listen to all sensible ideas if and when the time comes.
In terms of rugby well we hope that we will be starting again in September with us being able to train some time during the summer but that is out of our hands of course.
It may not be what we intended to spend the monies we have raised with our fund raising but because of what we do we will be OK.
So, I hope you all continue to keep safe; and for those club members that have been infected themselves, or family members, we hope you are back to good health soon if not already. For those of you who have lost family members or friends to this awful disease then you have our heartfelt best wishes.
Paddy Douglas
