Design – 1
Why is the design as it is? Trustee Bill Gourlay has the answers …
The new pavilion is needed because we’ve seen so much growth across the four sports clubs and so there have been a number of meetings with representatives from each of the governing bodies, in addition to Sport England. The conversations have been really positive as they’ve allowed us to share our current position with each of these bodies, understand what level of financial grant we might be able to receive from them, and also be clear on the expectations that they would have of Fernhurst’s sports clubs. Our fundraising group has also started to mobilise their efforts, with generous local donors, in order to start chipping away at our target.
OK, on the money, a lot of people think £1m is way over the top, especially in the current climate. How can you justify it and do you think you will actually raise it?
There is absolutely no question that £1m is a lot of money, particularly when considered in a domestic context. However, we’re constructing a community building, so a more realistic context is to consider this versus the £16m+ that a leisure centre would cost. We’ve compared the scale and cost to similar clubhouse builds elsewhere, which has confirmed that we are very much on the right track. We’ve got a solid core of dedicated volunteers who are taking it upon themselves to spend their time raising these funds, so that we can provide Fernhurst’s villagers with a set of fantastic sporting facilities over the coming decades. They’re not doing this for themselves but for the good of the entire community, so we hope that everyone will recognise this and try to support them in whatever way possible.