A rugby club which was devastated by flooding has installed new defences to help keep it safe in the future.

Nearly £9,000 has been spent on floodgates to ensure keen youngsters can always make the most of the sports facilities at Egremont RUFC's Bleach Green home.

In 2009, the club's ground was flooded causing extensive damage to the facilities.

Now, thanks to grants from the Rugby Football Foundation, Copeland Community Fund and Egremont town council, the changing rooms, multi-use games area and floodlights have been protected.

"Our clubhouse was flooded and had to be completely rebuilt," explained Ian Marr, from Egremont RUFC. "When we rebuilt the clubhouse we incorporated flood resilience.

"Our sporting facilities did not have any flood resilience and therefore were vulnerable to the increased risk of flooding."

The club, which unveiled its new defences at a launch event, runs an extensive youth development programme with more than 200 participants between the ages of six and 18, including both boys and girls.

Mr Marr said: "We have installed the flood gates to provide resilience to our sports facilities to mitigate the risk to our youth development programme from potential flooding.

"We've received grant funding which together with our own club funding has paid for the flood resilience."

On Friday, Copeland mayor Mike Starkie and local councillors were given a short tour of the flood protection equipment and thanked for their support by club officials.

Mr Starkie said: "This club is a real hub for the community and these measures could save it from devastating consequences in the future.

"Clubs can be out of action for many months when they're hit by floods and the financial impact can be crippling.

"It's great that these funders have helped the club build its resilience so that it can continue to offer the fantastic sporting and community events and opportunities that it does now."