Map of facility plans – click map for larger image 

Just a quick report on the club’s facility plans and progress to date and plans for this year. As people will know, last September the club embarked on its most ambitious venture to date with the purchase of 8 acres adjacent to the National School. The purchase and initial development was funded through the combination of savings, loans, fundraising and a small amount of grants with a total spend of €248,000. Loans made up €184,000 of this total and the club had made considerable inroads into this in the last 9 months with almost €13,500 repaid in that period.

The club are not for standing still and have advanced plans in place for:-

• The construction of a basic indoor training area approximately two-thirds the size of the existing training area in Craughwell Community Centre.
• The erection of 8 more floodlights.
• The construction of 10x125m sprint lanes which will double up as long jump runways.
• The construction of internal roadway and car-park similar to that at the GAA fields.

We are MAJORLY dependent on our members to support us in a fund-raising campaign to help fund these. We have a fund-raising target of €40,000 this year and this coupled with hoped-for additional loans and a Sports Capital Grant will fund the work.

But we need EVERYONE on board for this. We are kick-starting this with a major fund-raiser for a 12 hour relay where each participant will run 100m and pass the baton to the next participant. We hope to break a Guinness World Record but more importantly we hope to raise a 5 figure sum to put a huge dent in that €40k target. Click image below for more details

We want YOU our member families to get your neighbours, friends, work colleagues and relatives to sponsor the club in this effort. We have 300 families in the club. If each family filled 1 sponsorship card with 20 lines of €5 each … let me get the calculator … 5 * 20 * 300 = €30,000 !!!! If a family filled 2 cards, that’s 2*5*20*300 = €60,000!!!

So we need YOU to start TODAY and return completed sponsorship cards ASAP … it will encourage everyone to see us approaching this target. It does not matter if you are not available to run in the relay (although we hope you can) – its the club’s attempt that people are sponsoring and not individual runners. Sponsorship cards have been handed out at training sessions and if you don’t have one, please ask any coach or Michael Tobin (087 6591879).

There are other ways that you can also help us to raise funds including:-

• DONATE: We are still open for donations and you can donate in 1 go or setup a monthly standing order to our account which will help us repay debts. Please consider this and don’t leave all the burden to a small few. We already have had 58 families who donated a total of €17500 in varying amounts and 15 families who have loaned the club a staggering total of €80000.

• RECYCLE: We continually have a clothes recycling bin located at the Astroturf and we get approx. €5 for each substantial bag of clothes and shoes/belts. 3 bags per year * 300 families * €5 = €4500!
• TEE-SHIRTS: Click below to see our super high quality t-shirt and ordering information, part of the proceeds of which goes to the club’s fund-raising efforts.

So let’s get a bit of momentum going on the fund-raising and lets all support each other in developing a facility that will be of immeasurable benefit to the health and welfare of the children in the club, their families, the community and future generations.

Thanks for listening!