whitehaven news stand article

[brett kinghams mullet]

maybe now the likes of reg and others will understand the difficult situation the club are in regarding the popular side stand, and how most of the contorl over it is in other peoples hands...at least the club,instead of sitting around waiting  for the miners to sort things out , are trying to get the railway end sort .

you can understand westlakes point also would you invest money on to land you didnt own only for the owners to turn around and say sorry we are not renewing your lease , if theres going to be no problems in years to come with the lease(as the miners say) then whats stopping them giving the club another 50 year lease..nothing

reading between the lines i think we can all see the miners are the stumbling block and if they carry on doing this i can see a compulsary purchase being sort by the council

[Blackie]

thats interesting news. Please for peace sake, get it sorted asap.

[Keith]

I think you will find that the Trustees of the Miners Welfare are restricted by charity law as to what they can and can't do, so it is no use everyone having a go at them.   Believe me they have to deal with the Coal Industry Social Welfare Organisation and the Charity Commission and they have to be guided by those two organisations.   The Trustees themselves, off their own bat, cannot make the sort of major decisions involving 13 acres of charity land that everyone seems to think they can.    At the end of the day the Miners Trustees have to make decisions for the benefit of the charity itself NOT for any of the user groups who use their land.

I also think that the quote about giving a 50 year lease is inaccurate as the Charity Commission frown upon charities giving leases for longer than 25 years.   

[havenette]

i found out that they will not let it go a head for smoe reason or so

[WHITEHAVEN RLFC 4 EVA]

 il give my opologies to the b.o.d as this has made a smile on my face just hope they start soon if it has to be done by may and with eight weeks planning time it could be tight

By Martin Morgan

WHITEHAVEN are prepared to dig deep to borrow funds to build a new scaled-down grandstand which could provide a passport to Super League next year.

With long-running talks over funding for a new ?1 million stand at the Recreation Ground?s Popular Side now stalled, the club is instead looking very closely at the option of a permanent new ?300,000 facility at the Railway End.

And Haven, who last month reported a whopping profit of over ?40,000 for 2005, have already been given the RFL?s seal of approval over a planned 1,000-seat design for the Railway End.

This means the proposed covered stand, while less ambitious than the Popular Side proposal, is acceptable to gain entry to Super League, if Haven win the NL1 Grand Final in October. The major hurdle is that the club must contribute ?90,000 to the new development, with regeneration company Westlakes Renaissance providing the remaining ?210,000.

But chairman Des Byrne revealed he was ?cautiously optimistic? that Haven would be able to raise the cash.

A host of potential fund-raising ideas are to be discussed by the Haven board, including the sale of seats in the new stand to fans.

Any shortfall could then be made up in loans, though the club would expect to need to borrow much less than their total contribution of ?90,000 to the new stand. ?We have always said we would rather not borrow the money but we may well have to,? said Byrne. ?To take the business forward we may have to look at it.?

With Super League ending automatic promotion from NL1 when franchises are introduced in 2009, the need to reach the top-flight within the next two years becomes far more urgent.

Sellafield operator British Nuclear Group last year donated ?500,000 to ground improvements at the Recre, though those funds were allocated for the ?1 million Popular Side stand and cannot be used for the Railway End development. The club must have its new stand in place by the end of May to meet an RFL deadline, so time is short.

?The steelwork for the Railway End stand would come ready cut and not take long at all to assemble,? Byrne added.

?Planning permission would take about eight weeks. We have had talks with the planning officer and he doesn?t see a problem.

?We would also need to level the Railway End as the new stand couldn?t sit on top of it.?

Visiting fans often now use the Railway End terracing, which is open to the elements.

[havenchamps2005]

so the gretna stand then he says it may well come ready cut

[Jaypeet]

Lets hope the club get moving on the fund raising ideas fast!

Will selling the seats work?  Maybe a covered seated stand may drag some of us die hard Kellsenders down the Railway end who knows.

The way I see it, we have probably 1000 die hard fans who 'may' be able to contribute ?45 each to the cause, which would raise half the cash required.  What could be given in return for the ?45 is the question.  Some folk may be quite happy to give the ?45 for nothing in return (other then the satisfaction of improving the ground), I would be happy with being guaranteed tickets for any of the big games where allocation becomes an issue (without having to queue!).  Mind you there will be season ticket holders who would want to contribute, who already get the privalege (and rightly so) of first choice on allocated tickets.

You may think the above is a load of cr*p, but I'm just trying to generate ideas!  Provision of the Railway end stand is directly in the hands of the BOD, they need ?90,000, how can we help them get it and get it fast!

[forty twenty]

maybe now the likes of reg and others will understand the difficult situation the club are in regarding the popular side stand, and how most of the contorl over it is in other peoples hands...at least the club,instead of sitting around waiting  for the miners to sort things out , are trying to get the railway end sort .

you can understand westlakes point also would you invest money on to land you didnt own only for the owners to turn around and say sorry we are not renewing your lease , if theres going to be no problems in years to come with the lease(as the miners say) then whats stopping them giving the club another 50 year lease..nothing

reading between the lines i think we can all see the miners are the stumbling block and if they carry on doing this i can see a compulsary purchase being sort by the council

so come on reg were your appology or are u not man enough to admit when your wrong?

[haven marra]

Jaypeet, how about the club use the LOTTERY money, after all it is for ground improvements.

[WHITEHAVEN RLFC 4 EVA]

i could prob say me and me uncle would defo buy 2 two seats for the season if thats the case but this club is going the right direction on and off the field and i know once we get the top facilities in place this ground would be one of the best in the league and i know more supporters would go to games with better facilities iv got to say thats why we have not had the crowds for the club our size we are not a very small club which workington fans and others say we are one of the big clubs of Nil1 and always will be and i think we are a club ready to erupt and become summet we always thought we could be but these facilities need to be done and then more and more fans who have stayed away because of weather conditions and other things that have stopped em i guarantee they would come back and put this club in Sl where it should have been 3 years ago!

[havenchamps2005]

lets have that game of rugby to raise funds  

[Monte2carlo]

Ouch it was only a matter of time before someone mentioned the lottery, get ready for the floodgates of where's the money gone

Monte

[HavenWarrior]

Ouch it was only a matter of time before someone mentioned the lottery, get ready for the floodgates of where's the money gone

Monte

An interesting point Monte, i hope they have a Q+A session on the launch night, be interesting what the answer will be.

TW

[haven marra]

Monte i have only wrote what my heart says, i am not bothered about where the money has gone all i am saying is they can use this years lottery money to fund the stand. After all when i signed up to the lottery i was told it was for ground improvements and there can be no better improvement than a new stand

[Jaypeet]

I haven't heard that much about what the lottery money has or hasn't been used for, but seem to remember that some of it was used for general maintenance, improving the electrics, stopping leaks etc.  Don't see why it can't go towards the stand if there's any left HM.