Congratulations to Langworthy Reds Award Win

Congratulations to SRDFoundation community team Langworthy Reds who have been named Club Idol 2013 winners. Along with being voted Club Idol, the Reds scooped the winning prize of £1000 to go towards continuing updating the facilities at Oakwood Park.
 

Speaking after the announcement was made, club secretary Mark Davies had this to say. “This is excellent news and a great way to celebrate the hard work and long hours of work put in by many volunteers at the club. Without the time and effort put in by these people then this would have not even been possible to enter the competition so I would like to personally thank each and every one of them”.
 

The club entered the competition after getting involved in the Engage with your club scheme which offers advice and assistance on how to run events within the club to help improve the facilities, having identified a number of areas that needed drastic improvement. With an action day scheduled where many parents and players were in attendance from children as young as 5 up to grandparents all chipping in to lend a hand with carrying out tidying and cleaning up of the club house, old stables and courtyard to make the place a much more welcoming environment.
 

Work also started to resurrect the third pitch which had been left to overgrow for a number of years, however with the number of teams due to be playing out of Oakwood Park in 2014 it will become a necessity to have this available once again.Additionally the committee looked to see if it would be possible to drastically improve the bar facilities.
 

A fundraising night was held at the club which raised some money to go towards paying for materials to carry out the work and it was decided that while the rugby season was in its summer break the chance to begin and carry out whilst causing as little disruption as possible would be the best time. “We knew it would be tight with just 4 weeks to carry out while not impacting on the usability of the club during the season” adds Mark. “We were also hosting a memorial day at the club over the bank holiday weekend in memory of former player Kenny Davies who tragically passed in January. His closest friends and team mates wanted to raise money in his memory and to help raise awareness of mental health issues and had asked to hold the event at the club where Kenny had spent his life growing up”.
 

In addition to work carried out within the clubhouse, work was also continued outside with painting to the exterior and more tidying up of the courtyard. A floral area was built in an oval shape and a stone plaque fitted in remembrance of Kenny.
 

“To witness the changes to place during a hectic August was remarkable. We had a shoestring budget and we called on every last resource we could to make sure costs were kept low while finishing the work to a good standard”. In fact it cost approximately £1500 pounds to complete the entire works. When estimating how much not only materials and decals would have been fully but also the labour time put in, the cost would have been staggeringly higher.
 

As for the winning money “We intend to invest the £1000 in to refurbishing the changing rooms we currently have” explains Mark. “We currently have 2 small changing rooms and a port-a-cabin which has to service the club. On match days we can have up to 6 games on which could equal 12 teams requiring changing facilities. We will look to invest the money to not only improve the facilities but to help create more so that visitors will further enjoy their visit to Oakwood Park. There is still a lot of work to be done on other areas but this summer has shown that with great dedication and team work anything is possible even with limited funds”.
 

SRDFoundation Community Coach Lewis Lockett said, 'It's fantastic to see a club we hold in very high regard here at Salford be recognised in such a way. We know first hand how hard the team down there work and the benefit they provide the local and sporting community, and we warmly offer our congratulations".

 

Here’s to the next chapter in creating wonderful facilities for use of current and future generations of boys and girls, men and women for many years to come.
 

For additional information regarding SRDFoundation Community Team initiatives, please contact the Foundation on 0161 820 2739. For the latest Foundation news, follow us on Twitter @SRDFoundation.