Good afternoon everyone,
Let me start by offering an enormous thank you to Trevor, our former President, for being here today and for so brilliantly walking us through nearly 150 years of our club's rich history. On a personal note, I’m proud to announce that Trevor has been awarded the prestigious honour of Life Membership in recognition of his many years of service to the club. Please join me in giving Trevor a well-deserved round of applause.
This year, Trevor also had the opportunity to choose our club charity, and, following his son, Eddie’s diagnosis, he selected The MS Society. The charity is close to the club’s heart as Eddie is a current club member and represented Keswick on the pitch between the ages of 5 and 23. Today, you’ll have seen that we’re selling raffle tickets in aid of the MS Society, with some incredible prizes on offer, including international tickets to see England play New Zealand. It’s a great cause and a great opportunity—so please, buy a ticket or two. You’ve got to be in it to win it!
It’s a real honour to stand here today on the terrace, speaking to you with that spectacular view behind you—making Keswick Rugby Club one of the most picturesque grounds in the country. And let’s be honest: the view looking back toward the clubhouse from the pitch isn’t bad either!
Before I talk about the new clubhouse, I’d be remiss not to celebrate the successes of the past season—on the pitch.
Our junior section continues to grow, with more players involved than ever before. From age 3 to 18, boys and girls are developing what we hope will be a lifelong love of the game. And this simply wouldn’t be possible without the incredible dedication of our volunteer coaches, team managers, first aiders, and parents. Thank you.
We’ve had some great results this season:
• Our U16 Falcons were County Cup runners-up after a hard-fought final.
• Our U18 Falcons were also County Cup runners-up and finished 5th in the NE and Cumbria league. This is a particularly historic result as it is the first time the club has been able to field an U18 girls team in a competitive league.
• The U18 Colts, the Ospreys, placed 3rd in the North East and Cumbria Maverick Colts League and won the Colts County Cup adding silverware to our trophy cabinet.
• Our senior men’s second team finished 6th in the Counties 1 Cumbria League—remarkable given that many of their opponents were other clubs’ first teams.
• The men’s first team had their best season in recent memory, finishing 7th in the highly competitive Regional 2 North.
• The senior women, the Keswick Falcons, finished an impressive 3rd in NC1 North in their first season after back-to-back promotions.
• And finally, the senior men’s second team reached the final of the Cumbrian Shield, facing Penrith 2nds in Wigton today and taking the game in the final minutes. Well done lads for bringing the shield home!
A huge congratulations to all our senior players, coaches, and support teams. You’ve made us incredibly proud with your performances on and off the pitch.
Now—onto The Big Build.
As Trevor mentioned, talk of a new clubhouse at Keswick Rugby Club goes back decades. Sometimes, it was casual chatter over a pint; at other times—particularly after the floods of 2009 and 2015—it was a pressing agenda item. Despite enthusiasm, momentum often waned. Obstacles seemed insurmountable, and our old, flood-damaged clubhouse became a perennial issue with no clear way forward.
Then came a challenge no one from 1879 could have predicted—our growing membership now included women and girls. This was a fantastic development, enriching every part of club life. But it also meant our 1957 clubhouse, built for two men’s teams, was no longer fit for purpose.
Enter Carrick Wharmby—a committee member whose relentless enthusiasm, creative optimism, and sheer drive re-ignited the clubhouse project. A sub-committee was formed, and we began with a consultation to establish four key priorities:
1. The building must be flood-resilient.
2. It must have six changing rooms—to accommodate men, women, boys, and girls.
3. The main room should seat 150 people.
4. It should be physically connected to the pitch and grandstand.
Balancing flood resilience with connectivity created a design challenge. The solution? An unconventional, upside-down clubhouse: changing rooms upstairs, hospitality space below, and a players’ stairway leading to the pitch. I hope you’ll agree—it works!
At this point, I have many people to thank. The truth is, it takes a community to build a clubhouse.
First, to our players, members, and supporters: thank you for enduring our “marquee season.” Getting changed in containers, showering in trailers, and drinking in a tent where you were either freezing or sweating wasn’t glamorous—but you stuck with it, and now we’re here.
Thank you to our brilliant fundraising team. From Kate Stanton’s GoFundMe page to Katie Airey’s incredible 24-hour rugbyathon, you brought the whole club together. You organised fashion shows, retro discos, quiz nights, country and western evenings—you name it. Special thanks to Sue Addyman, Lucy King, Kate Stanton, Ann Smith, Kate Clark, and Sarah Cullinan.
Please see the boards in the clubhouse with more events and those responsible for running them.
Let’s give them the applause they deserve—go ahead, whoop and holler!
We’re also deeply grateful to our major donors:
• Michael Whombwell, who generously pledged to match the first £100,000 in community donations.
• Pauline and Simon Reece, who donated a truly humbling amount despite no prior connection to the club.
• Louise Watson, who donated in memory of her late husband, Lee. Our upstairs function room will now be named The Watson Suite in his honour.
To our grant writing team—David Thomas, Ann Smith, Richard Metcalf, Andy Wallace, and Carrick Wharmby—you unlocked a staggering £657,350 from a long list of organisations. Thank you for your persistence and precision.
At this stage I’d like to break down the grants and to thank the organisations responsible, many of whom are represented here today:
• The Community Ownership Fund or COF, £300.000
• The RFU grant., £125,000
• The RFU interest free loan, £100,000
• Cumbria Community Foundation, £15,000
• Cumberland Council and the shared UK prosperity fund, £50,000
• The Hadfield Trust, £2,500
• National Lottery, awards for all, £20,000
• Cumberland Council and the Lake to Sea community panel, £8,000
• Keswick Town Council, £5,000
• Keswick Lions, £30,000, much of which came from the proceeds of the annual Keswick Beer Festival
• Skipton Building Society £1,000
• Keswick Bridge, £500
• Lakes and Dales Coperative £350

To our community bondholders—nine local families who lent us £600,000 between them—we respect your wish for anonymity but thank you all the same.
To everyone who bought a paver, made a donation, or attended a fundraising event—every penny mattered. You helped make this possible.
Thank you to Robert Folder for documenting the build with thousands of photos—174 of which you’ll see on the clubhouse screens today.
Whilst we’ve benefitted from great local contractors, I should acknowledge our club members who’ve been willing to volunteer by rolling their sleeves up on the building site. Our thanks to Ian Burton, Martin Relph, Adrian Pattinson, Brian Roper, David Thomas, Chris Bland, John Austin, John Clark, Simon Grisdale, Peter Grave and David Greenwell.
To our interiors team— Club secretary and interior designer Liz Weightman, Ann Smith, and Louisa Burton—you ensured this space functions like a sports club but feels like a premium venue. Thank you.
To our Opening Day organisers—Kate Stanton, Kate Clark, Carly Cronin, Leanne Grave, Peter Weightman, and Jamie McKenzie—you’ve done a fantastic job.
Please bare with me, I’m on my last group of people to thank but this select team really have taken on the bulk of the work and decision making from the initial foundations up to the array of solar panels on the roof. The Big Build Committee have all made significant sacrifices in their work and private lives in order to commit the time that the project has necessitated and so I’d like to mention them individually. After I’ve said a few words about each I’d like to invite them up to collect a small gift from the club in recognition of their personal contribution.
Firstly, Louisa Burton has been across so many aspects of the build, from advice in the early stages regarding the planning process to procurement, fastidious record keeping, the club’s aesthetic and generally keeping the committee in check and on track during our late night meetings Louisa has been an invaluable member of the team.
Ian Burton. Ian brought a wealth of experience and contacts to the build and we made use of his skills as a renowned salesman. When it came to conversations on cost, discounts, flexibility and working within our timeline Ian was our go to man for negotiations. Ian’s involvement in the Big Build started months prior to planning and it was down to him that everything from the steel to below ground is as well considered as it is.
Unfortunately Ian can’t be with us today so I’d like to invite his daughters, Abbie and Lillian who are U18 and U16 County finalists respectively to accept the award on his behalf.
Andy Wallace next, the man with the purse strings. Before I mention Andy it is only right that I pay our respects to Jeremy Hall who unfortunately never got to see this vision realised. Andy will be the first to say that many of the spreadsheets that he used throughout the project were first created by Jeremy who really put in place the financial foundations that helped shape our decision making.
When Andy took on the role of club treasurer I don’t think he anticipated becoming the financial director of a £2.3 million project but he took it all in his stride and the fact that this build was completed on budget is really down to him.
David Thomas, who I have mentioned earlier regarding his work on grant applications has been a pleasure to observe over the last 12 months. I have rarely met anyone with such a relentless and dogged determination whether it comes to lobbying the new government or contacting the owner of Stannah via LinkedIn to ensure our lift installation was completed in time for today.
We have been exceedingly lucky to have had Norman Wilson on our team. A Quantity Surveyor by trade and an encyclopaedic knowledge of building regulations and contract law it is hard to over state how beneficial his involvement has been.
Now this isn’t the first time you’ll have heard me say the name Ann Smith. Ann has project managed the Big Build in all but name and has had an influence in every aspect of the Build from fundraising to grants and from construction to interiors. She even started bringing Carrick meals in Tupperware to our evening meetings so he didn’t get Hangry! Ann’s energy for the project has been truly inspirational, there is hardly a day that she hasn’t been on-site and I really want to stress the enormous debt of gratitude that we owe her as a club.
Finally, the big man, Carrick Wharmby! As I eluded to already, non of this would have happened if it wasn’t for Carrick. He was the driver to get the project going, he inspired the club, the town and everyone he talked to. After a meeting at the club with our MP, at the time, Trudi Harrison, she remarked to me that the reason that she was so invested in our project and keen to give it her backing was how passionate Carrick was whilst showing her round our old facilities. Carrick has been involved in every aspect of the big build and whilst he’s more comfortable with a hammer than a laptop has done a great job of project managing. I’m sure Carrick is listening thinking that all I’ve done for 12 months is questioned his decisions, put pressure on him and generally been a thorn in his side but as we stand here now, in front of our new clubhouse, it is an opportunity to say great job mate, we could never have achieved this without you!

Thank you all for listening. The exciting part begins now: filling this incredible new space with community, celebration, and new memories. The only thing this clubhouse doesn’t have yet—is history.
Let’s make some together.
Cheers everyone!