An “ambitious” target for the refurbishment of the pavilion on the Sportsground has been passed.

Monmouth Sports Association, who run and maintain the out-dated building, are “absolutely thrilled” to have reached their ambitious target of £20,000 within two months to refurbish the main function room.

As reported in the Beacon in March, the Sports Association combines the football, rugby, cricket, tennis and bowls clubs: the sporting heart of Monmouth.

The pavilion is in much need of a facelift to provide first class facilities to meet the ambitions of the sporting community of Monmouth and beyond. The Sports Association ran a campaign through Crowdfunder with the support of Sport Wales and exceeded their target, raising over £23,000.

The association want to pay particular tribute to Sport Wales for their donation of £6,000, and an anonymous and very generous donation of £5,000, backed up by significant donations from local individuals and businesses alike.

Paul Jarrold Tyres donated £3,000 to name the clubhouse for the next three years. The changing rooms will be named after local businesses: the Spar at Overmonnow, Monmouth Dental Practice, Monnow Eye Care, Square Farm Shop and Watkins and Gunn solicitors. All the clubs played their part in the fundraiser. The cricket club organised a podcast recording hosted by local celebrity and cricket club member, Miles Jupp and England cricketer Mark Wood, hosted at the rugby club. The recording of the popular ‘Middle Please Umpire’ podcast can still be found via your usual podcast provider. Grant Pendleton of IAM Finance generously match funded the event which resulted in £1,800 being raised on the night.

The family of the “dearly missed” David Uttley, the late treasurer and past chair of the football club, named the project as a recipient of part of the donations made in his memory, contributing over £800. All the clubs participated in the first Monmouth sports day on May 1, where both adults and children were encouraged to come along and try out a new sport. Despite the bleak weather, there was a fantastic turnout.

Monmouth tennis club welcomed the President of Tennis Wales, Baroness Amanda Sater. Club coach Chris Friend gave some impromptu coaching to, perhaps, the next budding Emma Raducannu or Andy Murray.

Alongside junior cricket ‘All Stars’ coaching, football ran a fun session and Junior Rugby had an end of season runout. Bowls Club’s taster sessions proved particularly popular with many having a try out on the pristine Bowling Green and the club hopes to welcome them back as members. The football club also ran the barbeque, with all food generously donated by Evans of Monmouth.

The event raised over £900, with many local businesses supporting the event in time and in generous donations for the raffle.

The Sports Association will be sending out certificates of thanks to all the local businesses who did so, and hope all our readers will see if they can spot the certificates up and down the High Street.

They also hope to make the Sports Day a permanent fixture in the sporting calendar of Monmouth, as a way of getting more people engaged in sport in Monmouth of any age.

By the time of the next one, the Association hopes that work will already have started on the pavilion refurbishment for all to see and enjoy.

Long-standing member of the Sports Association committee and the Tennis Club, Hilary Trenear said: “This truly is a new chapter for the Sports Association. It’s wonderful to see the clubs working together to develop the sporting infrastructure in Monmouth.

‘‘We really hope that the refurbishment of the main function room will be a springboard to completing a total refresh of the building, which all the clubs and other organisations in and around Monmouth can use and enjoy.

‘‘It is such a wonderful location overlooking the sporting heart of Monmouth and the Wye Valley,” she added.

For further information for work at the Sports Association, please contact Delyth Harris at [email protected].