Club Chair Report 2025/26

As we draw near to the start of another season of rugby Barry RFC on behalf of the committee I am

pleased to report to all Patrons, members, players and volunteers the following:

To our Volunteers

Without the support and commitment of our team managers, coaches and First aiders the club would simply not function. I cannot express to a sufficient degree how grateful the club is for your continued support. Our Director of Rugby, Mike Morgan, will continue this season to oversee our coaching and player pathways. Mike will be working very closely with the committee and I would like to express that clear communication between us all will be the key to the club’s continued success and development at all age grades moving forward.

The reason we all do what we do at the club is not for any personal gratification. At all levels,

whether age grade or senior, the role of a volunteer is to ensure our players are given the

unwavering support that they deserve to train and play, and above all else enjoy this sport that we all love so much. It is equally important that we continue to value the institution that we all belong to. So please accept my heartfelt thanks to you all.

To our Players

To all our boys, girls and senior players thank you for wanting to be a part of Barry RFC for another season. I know that last season our winter training schedules were often interrupted by the paddock being waterlogged and then combine that with the limited amount of time slots that we were able to secure at Bro Morgannwg, it did not always paint the best picture. I am grateful for your continued patience and understanding. During the off-season we have made enquiries for extra training slots under floodlights at Pencoedtre High School and we are awaiting confirmation from the school.

The improvement of training facilities is something that is high on the committee’s agenda. We are in the process of applying for a community asset transfer from the Vale of Glamorgan Council in relation to our pitches and clubhouse. As part of that process we are looking to consider the possibility of a hard surface floodlit play area which could potentially also be used as an overflow car park on the western side of the 1 st team pitch. This would at least give us an additional facility to practice ball handling skills, set piece and fitness.

In the long term once we have secured the community asset transfer it is our goal to secure funding for a 3G floodlit facility at the club. As you can imagine that is not something that will happen within the immediate future. However, it is important that you know that we are striving to ensure that our players have the best possible training facilities.

The Islanders Hub

As a result of the recent request for deregistration from a number of parents of young girls we requested a meeting with senior representatives from the WRU and a very constructive meeting took place at the stadium on Monday of this week. The discussions revolved around what the future of girl’s rugby at Barry RFC looked like. The WRU confirmed their support and gratitude for all the hard work that we are currently undertaking to recruit and support young girls who want to play rugby for Barry RFC, following the breakdown of the previous hub structure, and we are pleased to confirm that even though a number of young girls will be departing the club with immediate effect the hub will not be penalised in accordance with the current regulations and we will be allowed to field girls teams next year at all age grade levels.

We also explained to the WRU the planning permissions that we have secured to create new girls changing rooms and shower facilities to the rear of the club and we were given re-assurance that our plans for the future of the club, and indeed our current Key Performance Indicators (KPI’s), mirror the criteria for the continued long term provision of girls rugby at Barry RFC.

To all our current Islanders please spread the word and tell your friends about this great game of ours and let them know that all girls are welcome to come along and train at the club. We have some great coaches in the hub and you will also see current senior players occasionally stepping into training sessions to help with things like ball handling skills, set piece, kicking and game management. Bring on the new season!

The New Gym

The club has received a £9,000.00 donation from the trustees of the “Richard Taylor Memorial fund”. Richard was the son of former club stalwart John Taylor, former senior player and proprietor of, “John’s Hot Bread Shop” in Broad Street. Richard was a worldwide renowned skateboarder who tragically lost his life following a skateboarding accident. The Memorial Fund raised significant amounts of funds for the construction of the new skateboard park at the knap Lake.

Barry RFC gratefully received this donation on the basis that it will contribute to the purchase of weightlifting equipment for the use of our youth and senior players at the club. The club is in the process of negotiating the delivery of the equipment and to ensure that this valuable and much needed facility is put to use straight away it will be installed in the current skittle alley. We are hoping that the gym will be set up and in use by the end of September this year.

Refurbishment and Development Plans for the Clubhouse

There are refurbishment works on going inside the club at the moment to facilitate the arrival of the new gym. We apologise for any inconvenience caused but the work is being carried out by our players and members to keep cost to a minimum.

We have been working very closely with our architect and a structural engineer and we have

reached a stage where specified drawings are now being prepared with a view to applying for building regulations to break ground on a new extension to the rear of the club and in the existing beer garden to the side of the club. Key to this development will be a focused fundraising campaign to construct the new extension in the beer garden area, which will eventually house the new gym. We also have planning permission to extend into the paddock the current changing rooms with a view to making the existing changing rooms larger and creating a new female shower area along with 2 new female changing rooms.

We also have planning permission to construct a large storage room and new cellar to the rear of the club, which will enable us to demolish the existing cellar area and in doing so creating an ‘L’ shaped bar and creating additional floor space. The bar will also be completely refurbished. This will increase capacity in the club and allow us to refurbish the bar area with a view to attracting more functions and most importantly being able to hold our own annual club dinner and presentation evening in our own home.

We also have planning permission to demolish the existing porch entrance to the club and create a much larger entrance extension with a large foyer area that can be used to watch games in bad weather. There will also be a spectator terrace above the new extension.

All of these projects will have to be conducted in stages and subject to funding. It’s not going to happen overnight but if we implement these changes to our clubhouse it will serve to improve our own enjoyment of our clubhouse and most importantly create a significant income stream to make the club more financially sustainable moving forward.

The Community Asset Transfer

The club has for some time been negotiating with the Vale of Glamorgan Council in relation to the council’s plan to hand over the maintenance of our pitches and grounds to the club. We have submitted stage I of the community asset transfer application process and we are currently preparing the stage II application, which will lead into final negotiation for a 99 year lease agreement.

The timeframe for finalisation of this new arrangement is anticipated to be in the region of between a further 12 to 18 months. Once our lease agreement is finalised that places us in a far better position to apply for large-scale funding. However, it will not prevent us from moving forward with funding applications in the meantime.

Our plans are to ultimately fence off the 1 st team pitch and in doing so creating our own ground, which will be secure for the club’s exclusive use. There are some existing pedestrian rights-of-way that will need to be removed and the Vale of Glamorgan Council have kindly undertaken to meet the legal costs of this.

Social Media

I would like to make clear that our social media outlets are carefully monitored and they are

operated in accordance with the club’s Social media policy. We encourage the positive use of our social media outlets but I hope everybody will agree that it is in nobody’s interest to post negative comments about any matters that relate to club activities or administration. In accordance with our policy we will remove any comments that fall into this category. If anybody has any issues with any issues arising from their use of the club or the administration of the club then please feel free to correspond with either myself or any of the other club’s directors. Our respective email addresses are set out below:

Lloyd Jones (director/club treasurer) clubtreasurer@barryrfc.com

Jo Evans (director/club secretary) clubsecretary@barryrfc.com

Mike Prosser (director/club chairman) clubchair@barryrfc.com

I must also make clear that directors and committee members work very hard and spend a

disproportionate amount of their personal time running in effect what is a limited company. Please understand that we are happy to talk about any concerns that relate to the administration of the club. We cannot discuss issues that may be protected by confidentiality but we will always do our best to communicate openly and transparently. However, we will not tolerate or respond to personal abuse and we will take very seriously the conduct of anybody that takes any action that ultimately brings into disrepute the reputation of Barry RFC.

In Conclusion

We are not just members or volunteers at Barry RFC we are also part of the Barry RFC family and we must always treat each other with respect, kindness and consideration.

There are some exciting times ahead and I would like to wish everybody best wishes for the

forthcoming season.

To all the players, our boys, our girls, our youth players and our senior players be humble in success and be dignified in defeat. Play hard, play honest, look after each other and above all else enjoy yourselves.

Best Wishes to you All

Mike Prosser

(Chairman)