Who is Dursley RFC?

We are not only a Rugby club we are an access center for a running/athletics club, cricket club and Gym. It is a fully inclusive club and ao9 significant contributor to the social and cultural life of Dursley, Cam and the surrounding  Berkeley Vale area.  Our facilities/club house are utilised when not being used for sport with local groups, parties and meetings. We also hold not-for-profit community events.

The club fields three regular senior teams, a continually growing women’s section, walking rugby and more than 400 boys and girls playing in our minnow, mini and youth teams  ages between 4 to 18, a significant proportion of the local population have some contact with the club. We have something for all aged between 4yrs & 90 yrs!

How can you help?

Did you know that it costs around £10,000 every year to keep the lights and heating on for our clubhouse and changing rooms? And these costs will rise this year.  

That's why we're launching a Crowdfunder, as part of the Aviva Community Fund, to support the purchase and installation of solar panels and storage batteries at the club.          

We are building a sustainable club for future generations and renewable energy is a big part of our plan. 

But time is running out and we need to reduce our reliance on energy suppliers and we need your help.

Our aim is to put solar panels on our changing room roof THIS WINTER and install battery storage to have more control over our energy costs. 

The total cost of the panels, batteries and installation is £40,000.

We’ve received £14,000 through grant funding supported by Magnox, Gloucestershire County Council & The Luke Wheaton Legacy Trust.  We have saved £6,000 in our development fund – this leaves £20,000 to find. 

We’ve now been chosen for Aviva’s Community Fund Crowdfunder

This means that we have 6 WEEKS, to reach a dream target of £10,000 through our own individual pledges.  Aviva will match every donation (up to £250). 

There are 1,000 members across rugby, running, athletics and cricket clubs; as well as the communities of Dursley, Cam, Berkeley vale and surrounding villages.  Join us as we HARNESS THE POWER of our sporting communities to bring sustainable energy to our club for future generations.

Why we need to raise money?

Dursley Rugby Club is run by volunteers and all of our income comes from memberships, grant funding, clubhouse bar and kitchen, kit sales and fundraising in the local community.

Two other clubs share our site and also bring in income through membership, events and fundraising;  Dursley Running & Athletics Club 

Dursley Running Club (DRC) welcomes all levels of runners from those wanting a little bit of gentle exercise to those competing in Ultra Marathons and other crazy events. The club also has an active triathlon and junior section which includes athletics and provides our weekly Mindful Mile held on Saturday morning for 4 yrs - 90 yrs.  They also host the grueling annual Dursley Dozen and more recently the round 1 of this year’s Dursley and Wotton District Primary Schools Cross Country League; where 21 schools represented by 274 athletes competing in 4 races: Junior Girls (yrs 3&4) and Junior Boys (yrs 3&4) ran 800m, while Senior Girls (yrs 5&6) and Senior Boys (yrs 5&6) ran 1,500m.  

Rounds 2-4 will also be held here in Nov, Dec and Jan. 

the other being Stinchcombe Stragglers Cricket Club

We also have a cricket club which runs during the summer, with senior men and women's teams, junior and Cricket All-stars.  In all we have over 1000 local members regularly using the facilities.

Therefore having our own renewable energy source will reduce our overheads dramatically, giving us control of our energy costs and more money available to put back into our facilities for our members, thus keeping our membership costs to a minimum to ensure our club is fully inclusive and open to all.

Why solar panels? 

It’s part of the club’s long-term plan – to be carbon neutral by 2030, to build a sustainable club and to reduce our reliance on expensive energy.

It’s part of your plan - earlier this year we ran a survey about the future of the club and 79% of you said renewable energy would be top of your list for environmental improvements.

We’ve secured some of money for the panels for this winter and we’ve raised approx third of the money already – this is a brilliant achievement - we now need to raise the rest

Solar costs and facts and figures

• Significant increase in costs of energy over last two years
• Solar has minimal emissions and silently generates pure, clean energy
• The proposed system of 32.4kW, 30kW Inverter & 14.4kWh battery storage, would generate 104% of our annual energy requirement and avoid 9 tons of CO₂ being put into the atmosphere.
• Over the system lifetime this could equate to 263,000 car kilometres or 189 long haul flights!

What we’ve achieved so far

We are already on our carbon reduction journey and reducing our reliance on wholesale energy sources. With your support we have;

• planted 2620 tree saplings during the last year, with a carbon offset of 26,200kg.
• installed thermal insulation to reduce our energy consumption in the changing rooms,
• automatic lighting and thermostatic heating with web enabled control in our buildings. 

Our vision for the future

What can you do to help?

There are four simple ways to help us reach our target, and make this project a reality.

1. Make a pledge. Don’t delay if you’re going to support us because momentum is key to our success!

2. Spread the word. Share our project on your social media pages and tell the world to get behind us! The more people we reach, the more support we will get.

3. Offer rewards. Get involved if you are a local business by donating things we can offer to our supporters. We will give you a shout out!

4. If you want to run your own fundraiser to support us, maybe a sponsored activity or similar, use the 'contact project' button at the top of our page to let us know. Setting up your own page only takes a few minutes and you won’t need any bank details. Just a fun idea!