14 July 2022

Rugby Gymnastics Club is urgently looking for help to meet a massive funding shortfall for the first phase of its ambitious plans to relocate to a new building on Kilsby Lane, adjacent to the Rugby Borough Football Club, from the existing club location on Lower Hillmorton Road.  Quartzelec, an international provider of engineering services and a global expert in rotating machines, with its headquarters based in Rugby, was amongst the first to step forward with a contribution.

In addition to providing facilities and weekly coaching sessions for hundreds of youngsters, over the past six years the Club has worked tirelessly to raise the funds needed to construct new facilities. Full planning permission was granted three years ago but Brexit and Covid have both significantly impacted the project, with the cost of steel and other building materials soaring, resulting in a £150,000 shortfall to complete Phase One.

“We have made significant inroads towards hitting our fundraising target over recent years, but the escalating cost of materials is pushing the goalposts ever further away,” stated Howard Clewlow, Chair of Rugby Gymnastics Club. “We are truly grateful to local companies like Quartzelec for generously donating funds and helping keep this dream alive.  We want to continue to make gymnastics available to everyone that wants to participate in this popular Olympic sport for many decades to come. We continue to keep the ball moving and hope eventually to be able to provide facilities that will enable our country’s next gold medallists to have potentially taken their first steps on the path to success within our enhanced training environment.”

In addition to a loan and monies from regular subscriptions, the Club has secured funding from the sale of their land plus various funding streams including Sports England, the Rugby Benevolent Group, a number of individual benefactors and Section 106 monies. It is now turning its focus towards local communities and corporate sponsorship and hopes that the shortfall will be quickly met.

“We place great emphasis on supporting the local communities in geographical regions in which we operate,” added Stephen Morrison, Quartzelec’s Managing Director. “We employ approaching 600 staff globally and our corporate headquarters is here in Rugby so the Rugby Gymnastics club was an obvious choice to receive our support for its funding efforts this year.”

He continued: “Our Apprenticeship programme also draws young adults from the local community and ensures we have a skilled pool of young engineers and other commercially skilled staff to help take our operations forward.”

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