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Chairman Update: The future of TRWFC
Perihan Ibrahim20 Nov - 18:01
Securing our future for the next 100 years
Members and friends of TWRFC,
As I have mentioned in my previous members correspondence on the future of our Club, we are at a key moment in our club’s history. A moment when we can secure the future of our sports club for the next 100 years. Giving Tunbridge Wells a freehold multi-sports facility to be proud of.
When I became Chair in 2019 we knew the importance of having a plan to protect the future of our Club. We have grown significantly as a club and have become an incredibly important part of our Town and our community. Our success over many years meant we have some quite acute growing pains that we need to address:
Our Pitches: We only have four rugby pitches and two cricket squares. As we know they do not drain well! This causes a lot of cancelled fixtures and cancelled training sessions. We believe we need at least one alternative grass pitch to ensure we get games on! We believe we also need all of our pitches to have modern and well invested drainage solutions. We believe we need a Cricket pitch that is solely for Cricket so we can prepare it to the highest standards.
Our Parking: With only 67 car parking spaces at St Marks and 1100 members we cause a considerable parking burden on our local community that they do not enjoy. We need to increase our parking for members.
Our Club house: We have a small Clubhouse with 4 changing rooms, one club room that sits 80 for lunch/dinner. We do not have a cricket Pavillion and the clubhouse is in the wrong location. The Clubhouse is no longer fit for purpose and needs considerable investment.
When we set off on our plans to secure our future in 2019 we hoped to find one solution for our future. We are presently blessed to have two options we are progressing with:
Stay at St Marks and invest heavily in the grounds and the facilities (planning permission achieved in 2022 for some of the above needs)
Re-locate the club to a new purpose build site at Chase Farm on Bunny lane
They are both good options but the former comes with a considerable financial burden on the club, that would involve it borrowing substantial funds. It would also mean we only partially solve our pitch problems, added limited additional parking spaces and still had sub-optimal Clubhouse facilities. Hence the Membership and the Board unanimously backed the Board (in 2024) in trying to secure the necessary planning permission and progressing the option to relocate to Chase Farm. Since then we have been working with Esquire and their many professional advisors to achieve this goal. Their diligence in working with all the relevant statutory bodies and relevant experts has delivered a compelling future for our sports club and our Town.
I did warn you that it would probably get a bit noisy as we submitted our plans and as you can see from the planning permission that have been submitted and the local news forums ‘it has got a bit noisy’. Our existing neighbours are understandably upset that the farmland many of their houses were built on will potentially be subject to further developed as part of this scheme. But there are many upsides for our community to consider that offer considerable benefit to our Town.
This is why I wanted to share with you again the reasons why this is so important for: our Community; our Club; our mini and youth members; our senior players; and our supporters/social members. We are an important sports Hub around which our community forms and our long terms future is vital to the town.
So here are the reasons to be excited by our future at Chase Farm:
Our Club has outgrown existing facility and the proposed facility will be a significant improvement for the following reasons :-
Improved playing pitch surface, with all grass pitches drained to a high specification and a full artificial grass pitch. This means we get games played, get training sessions on at the club and keep our kids/players active.
We have a significantly enhanced parking provision at the new site with great overflow options. We will be self contained and not cause our neighbours any problems.
Our Clubhouse and changing facilities are enhanced beyond recognition. The Clubhouse is in the right location and is three times the size, the cricket Pavillion is purpose built and fitting for a club of our stature, we have 8 changing rooms that cater for all needs and two referee/umpire rooms to cater for the increased diversity our game enjoys. We can sit 200 of our members down for lunch or dinner and create an amazing social space for our community
We are happy with the new location and we will remain on the edge of town.
We want to secure long term sustainability for the club based around rugby, cricket, football and Padel. Giving us a diverse and broad appeal to our community and Town.
We secure our future on freehold land, with broad income streams to keep us safe for the next 100 years. A community asset to be proud of!
We hope you are as excited as we are and if you want to chat through any of the plans please feel free to catch me or any of the Board at the club or give me a ring or email.
Come on You Wells
Mike and the Board
Mikerigby@me.com
07793458856
As I have mentioned in my previous members correspondence on the future of our Club, we are at a key moment in our club’s history. A moment when we can secure the future of our sports club for the next 100 years. Giving Tunbridge Wells a freehold multi-sports facility to be proud of.
When I became Chair in 2019 we knew the importance of having a plan to protect the future of our Club. We have grown significantly as a club and have become an incredibly important part of our Town and our community. Our success over many years meant we have some quite acute growing pains that we need to address:
Our Pitches: We only have four rugby pitches and two cricket squares. As we know they do not drain well! This causes a lot of cancelled fixtures and cancelled training sessions. We believe we need at least one alternative grass pitch to ensure we get games on! We believe we also need all of our pitches to have modern and well invested drainage solutions. We believe we need a Cricket pitch that is solely for Cricket so we can prepare it to the highest standards.
Our Parking: With only 67 car parking spaces at St Marks and 1100 members we cause a considerable parking burden on our local community that they do not enjoy. We need to increase our parking for members.
Our Club house: We have a small Clubhouse with 4 changing rooms, one club room that sits 80 for lunch/dinner. We do not have a cricket Pavillion and the clubhouse is in the wrong location. The Clubhouse is no longer fit for purpose and needs considerable investment.
When we set off on our plans to secure our future in 2019 we hoped to find one solution for our future. We are presently blessed to have two options we are progressing with:
Stay at St Marks and invest heavily in the grounds and the facilities (planning permission achieved in 2022 for some of the above needs)
Re-locate the club to a new purpose build site at Chase Farm on Bunny lane
They are both good options but the former comes with a considerable financial burden on the club, that would involve it borrowing substantial funds. It would also mean we only partially solve our pitch problems, added limited additional parking spaces and still had sub-optimal Clubhouse facilities. Hence the Membership and the Board unanimously backed the Board (in 2024) in trying to secure the necessary planning permission and progressing the option to relocate to Chase Farm. Since then we have been working with Esquire and their many professional advisors to achieve this goal. Their diligence in working with all the relevant statutory bodies and relevant experts has delivered a compelling future for our sports club and our Town.
I did warn you that it would probably get a bit noisy as we submitted our plans and as you can see from the planning permission that have been submitted and the local news forums ‘it has got a bit noisy’. Our existing neighbours are understandably upset that the farmland many of their houses were built on will potentially be subject to further developed as part of this scheme. But there are many upsides for our community to consider that offer considerable benefit to our Town.
This is why I wanted to share with you again the reasons why this is so important for: our Community; our Club; our mini and youth members; our senior players; and our supporters/social members. We are an important sports Hub around which our community forms and our long terms future is vital to the town.
So here are the reasons to be excited by our future at Chase Farm:
Our Club has outgrown existing facility and the proposed facility will be a significant improvement for the following reasons :-
Improved playing pitch surface, with all grass pitches drained to a high specification and a full artificial grass pitch. This means we get games played, get training sessions on at the club and keep our kids/players active.
We have a significantly enhanced parking provision at the new site with great overflow options. We will be self contained and not cause our neighbours any problems.
Our Clubhouse and changing facilities are enhanced beyond recognition. The Clubhouse is in the right location and is three times the size, the cricket Pavillion is purpose built and fitting for a club of our stature, we have 8 changing rooms that cater for all needs and two referee/umpire rooms to cater for the increased diversity our game enjoys. We can sit 200 of our members down for lunch or dinner and create an amazing social space for our community
We are happy with the new location and we will remain on the edge of town.
We want to secure long term sustainability for the club based around rugby, cricket, football and Padel. Giving us a diverse and broad appeal to our community and Town.
We secure our future on freehold land, with broad income streams to keep us safe for the next 100 years. A community asset to be proud of!
We hope you are as excited as we are and if you want to chat through any of the plans please feel free to catch me or any of the Board at the club or give me a ring or email.
Come on You Wells
Mike and the Board
Mikerigby@me.com
07793458856
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