Tag: Dursley Rugby Club

Sporting Updates from Dursley Rugby Club

The next few dates for your diaries:

September 7th will be the start of the rugby season.  On 7th September our men’s first team start the season with a really tough game against last years runners up Dings Crusaders from Frenchay.  All Saturday matches start at 3pm until the clocks change.   Our second team start their season at home the following week against Southmead, Bristol.   For a full fixture list please go to our website https://www.dursleyrfc.co.uk/section/seniors

The Mini and Youth start back the following day, 8th September when we welcome back over 300 children. Dursley has one of the largest mini and youth set ups in the county of which we are extremely proud.

Our ladies team kick of their season on Sunday 15th September against Avonmouth Ladies.

We have also now agreed dates for the very popular schools cross country events.  These will be organised by the running club and take place on saturday mornings:

• Saturday October 19th 2024
• Saturday 16th November 2024
• Saturday 7th December 2024
• Saturday 18th January 2025
• with a backup date in the event of having to cancel one of these due to bad weather : Saturday 8th February 2025

Other notable events are:

the cricket section
still have a full fixture list until the end of August catering for children, ladies and the mens team.

the mindful mile
organised by the Running Club.  This is open to all and takes place every Saturday morning.

the minnows rugby
that takes place in the village hall every saturday morning for children of pre-school age.

and at the other end of the age range we have walking rugby every Tuesday evening and touch rugby every Monday evening.  

So we really do cater for all ages from 3 to 83 years old.  If you’d like to join in any of these sessions then please contact us, details are on our website at www.dursleyrfc.co.uk

Kind Regards

Phil

Dursley Rocks –

On behalf of the entire Rugby Club, I would like to say a huge thank you to everyone in the Parish for your patience with and support of the recent Dursley Rocks event which we hosted recently.

This is the first time the not for profit community event has been held at the grounds and marks our first major event since the Summer Ball held prior to the various Lockdowns. We appreciate these events can cause disruption and hope on the whole this was managed effectively. I know many of you attended and I would like to say a big thank you to everyone that has given us feedback as it will certainly help us learn for future events.

One of our key learns has been the need for clear communication within the local community and we are planning to utilise the e-News more regularly moving forward to inform you of upcoming events and club activities. We always welcome any thoughts and feedback.

70th Anniversary Celebrations –

In the spirit of communication we are very excited to announce a family friendly day of celebration to be held at the club on the 19th of August to mark our 70th season as Dursley Rugby Club.

We are planning a host of celebratory events so please come and join us as we kick-off with a day of family fun and rugby, with entertainment for everyone. We’re still finalising details but there will be plenty of food, drink and children’s entertainment followed by a friendly game of pre-season rugby. There is no cost to enter the event so please do come along..

Phil Sprague – Chairman Dursley Rugby Club

VOLUNTEERS DIG DEEP FOR DURSLEY RUGBY CLUB

Maroon shirts, green fingers and golden sunshine graced Dursley Rugby Club for their tree planting day

Sunday 20th March saw volunteers from across Dursley Rugby Club turn out to help plant 2,620 trees around the perimeter of the club’s new training pitch. Over 300 meters of hedgerow was planted on the day with expert help from the Wotton Climate Action Group and the hard work of players past and present, parents, grandparents, siblings, friends and even a few dogs from the Rugby, Cricket and Running clubs. Some volunteers were on site for over 6 hours, and areas of rocky ground, along with the need for careful planting and protection of each sapling, meant it was difficult work. Angus McCubbin, the event organiser, said “I am so proud of the dedication shown by all of our volunteers and it has been lovely to see so many different sections from the club represented in this effort. We have made fantastic progress today and this hedgerow will make a huge difference to both the club, our neighbours and the local wildlife”.

The remaining 100 metres of hedgerow was completed by other groups of club volunteers over the past few days. And now, during the warm weather, all the new plants will be diligently watered to keep them healthy. Dursley Rugby Club visitors can now look forward to seeing the trees grow and the hedge develop around the new training pitch.

The new trees were donated by Woodland Trust and Gloucestershire Council, with oak, elder, cherry, birch, rowan, hawthorn and hazel included in the mix to give variety to suit the local environment. The new hedge will provide an important source of food and refuge for birds, insects and small mammals and strengthen the club’s existing conservation efforts. The new trees on site will also contribute to the fight against climate change. Estimates suggest that these 2,620 trees alone could remove as much as 26,200 kilograms of carbon from the air each year.

While the planting is now completed, Dursley Rugby Club are continuing to offer its friends and supporters the chance to sponsor each of the new trees with a personal message or dedication. These messages will be attached to the trees and become part of the hedge, forming a living monument to the sponsors and the loved ones they have dedicated their messages to. The money raised from these sponsorships will be placed into the club’s development fund and reinvested in future projects, including the installation of solar panels. Any interested parties should contact the club for details at DRFChedge@outlook.com

We will be running our tree planting event this coming Sunday 20th March.  The details can be downloaded here and seen below.

For anyone that would like to come and plant a tree or 10 then we would love to see you.  We have timings for the rugby club below but don’t let that stop you coming when it suits you.

ALL ARE WELCOME

• 9.30am Ground opens
• Morning Ladies section and Cricket club planting
• 11.30am onwards Mini and Youth sections planting
• 12.00 – 2.00pm BBQ will be open. Bar will also be open
• Afternoon onwards – Senior section and others planting

Important Information

Please bring: Spades, shovels, gloves, wellies or boots, a waterproof just in case and plenty of enthusiasm and energy
Please plant as many trees as you can and enjoy the day.
Thank you for helping to contribute to the development of the club

Dursley Rugby Club – hedge / tree planting on land behind Village Hall

As you know, the rugby club purchased some land behind the village hall in late 2019 to allow us to improve our training facilities.  Since then its development for sporting use has been delayed due to the pandemic, but we are now making progress with some of the things that we communicated with you at that time.

These are the plan to plant trees (that will develop into a hedge system) around part of the perimeter to improve the aesthetics, encourage more biodiversity, and provide greater privacy for neighbours;  the plan to place underground the power lines that cross the land to improve the visual outlook, and also to make the area safe for sporting use;  and to provide access to our land from the road down the track next to the Village Hall (this to provide access to the field behind Townsend Farm for the owner via our land, and also for us to be able to access our land safely).

We can now update you on these issues as follows:

• Tree / hedge planting: a condition of our permission to remove some old and poor quality hedgerows was that these be replaced around part of our perimeter (predominantly nearest the properties in Coombe Gardens and nearby).
  
  These have been secured from the Woodland Trust and elsewhere according to the correct species mix, and we expect delivery of them in late February / early March. The intention is to arrange several planting sessions to take place during March – Sunday 20^th March is the first planned date – using club members as well as any other volunteers who may be interested. If you or anyone you know would like to take part, please contact us. Any further details including dates will be shared when these are finalised.

• Power lines: we have now agreed a plan with Western Power to place the power lines underground, and we hope that the work for this will take place in late spring. This will result in some noise as we dig the trench and they bring machinery in to lay the lines, but we will minimise this as much as possible.
  
  We will also arrange appropriate signage and safety measures for people using the footpaths that cross the land. We will let you know when we have details on dates and other arrangements.

• Track: it was also a condition of our permission that we should provide access to the field behind Townsend Farm via the track to the side of the Village Hall and then around our perimeter to enter that field.
  
  We also need to be able to provide safe access and exit from our own land for any machinery needed for the above work, and also for any occasional overflow parking (as per our application this is allowed up to 10 times per year, and is part of our plan for managing car parking problems on a Sunday morning). To do this, we will be improving the surface of the track from the main road to behind the Village Hall.  This work is planned to commence on Monday 7^th February.

If anyone would like any further information on any of the above items please contact Simon Bilous, former Club Chair, who is now our Land Project Manager.

Regards and best wishes,

Phil Sprague, Club Chair, Dursley Rugby Club