After two years of hard work to secure £25,000 of funding, commission contractors and bring a pipedream to life, Cambrian Coltz RFC have thrown open the doors to their new clubhouse at The Bush Hotel.
After purchasing the derelict building in 2020, seeing its vast potential in acting as a hub for players, their families and the wider Tonypandy community, a team of Cambrian Coltz stalwarts set about refurbishing the dilapidated first floor 128 sq. metre area.
With the room simply a shell, work involved rewiring, plastering, building seating, and painting to ensure that it was fit for purpose. It now houses a private bar and will be used for presentation evenings and private functions, as well as the place for youth team to go after games.
With the overall cost running well into their thousands, Cambrian Coltz RFC approached local energy company, Pennant Walters, for support. Pennant Walters answered the plea, providing £17,500 of sponsorship from a fund linked to two wind farms in the Gilfach Goch and Blackmill areas – Pant y Wal in the county of Bridgend, and Fforch Nest, which straddles the border of Bridgend and Rhondda Cynon Taf. The two sites have a total of 21 turbines producing 53 megawatts of clean electricity – enough to power the equivalent of 25,000 homes.
Cambrian Coltz RFC, Secretary, Steve Picton said:
“We are absolutely thrilled to turn around this derelict building and bring it to life so that all the community can enjoy it.“Due to the position of our playing fields, we’ve never had a clubhouse, but have been keen for some time to have a community building that suits the needs of the club and local people. When The Bush Hotel became available, we jumped at the chance but knew it would take a lot of work to turn it around.
“We simply can’t express how thankful we are to everyone that has helped bring this building to life. Pennant Walters, once again, provided substantial support to kickstart the project – without them we wouldn’t be in this position and to express our gratitude we have named our room the Pennant Suite.
“We really hope our clubhouse will firmly become a regular place for our players, their families and people locally to use and enjoy!”
Last year Pennant Walters kitted out the Cambrian Coltz under 7, 8, 9 and 12 teams.
Pennant Walters managing director, Dale Hart, said:
“Seeing how this building has been turned around by the committed team at Cambrian Coltz RFC is just fantastic.
“We all know the role clubhouses play in communities right across Wales and this one is no different.
“Our wind energy project community funds exist to make a difference to the local communities in which we work. Knowing the doors to the clubhouse are now wide open, for all to enjoy, I’m sure it will become a favourite community hub for many years to come.”
