£200,000 campaign to keep rugby club at heart of Newport
Newport Rugby Club has launched a £200,000 campaign to keep the sport at the heart of the town for the next century.
It has signed an agreement with Newport and District Agricultural Society, which owns the club’s existing site at The Old Showground in Forton Road, to take on a 99-year lease from August 2019.
They are now hoping to raise £200,000 cost of the lease, which they said was assessed through an independent professional valuer to ensure it was fair to both parties.
Steve Murphy, Chairman of the Rugby Club and Robert Watson Jones, Chairman of Newport and District Agricultural Society, signed the official option document at a ceremony on March 13.
Rugby Club Chairman Steve Murphy said: “This season our first team has achieved the highest position we have ever reached in the league and we are pushing for promotion. We have an active second and vets teams as well as a youth section with more than 350 players ranging from the ages of six to 18.
Vital
“Keeping the club at our current home within Newport is, we feel, vital to maintaining our connection with the community. By agreeing these terms for the lease, we will be able to apply for capital grant funding and we will be working to raise the necessary funds over the next 18 months.”
Chairman of Trustees at the Newport and District Agricultural Society Robert Watson Jones said: “The Society has a long standing partnership with the club through leasing land that dates back to 1949 so we are very pleased to have agreed terms that could see this continue for the foreseeable future.
“The club has a valuable role in our community and we hope people will get behind its fundraising campaign.”
As a registered charity, the society will use the funds to support its work conserving Chetwynd Deer Park for the benefit of current and future generations.
Further details about the club and its fundraising campaign can be found at newportsaloprufc.co.uk
