A LOCAL rugby club is celebrating its success after securing a grant to buy new equipment that will give them independence.

Aspatria Hornets Rugby Club was given £5,037 by Rugby League World Cup England through the CreatedBy small grant.

Keith Morley, club secretary, said: “For the first time since the reformation of Aspatria Hornets RLFC 11 years ago, it has its own changing rooms and showers for the home and away teams and referees.

“With this money we can now get things so we can be independent.”

The club has its own licensed pitch dedicated to rugby league playing and training through Beacon Hill School. Prior to this it shared Aspatria Memorial park’s single pitch with two football teams.

“Pitch quality, marking out, erecting and removal or posts before and after every game often caused friction,” added Keith.

It was Keith who applied for the grant through the Rugby League’s website.

Those applying for a small-scale CreatedBy grants can request up to £15,000. The program is dedicated to improving the environment where rugby league takes places, giving people more opportunities to engage with the game and get active.

“I applied online for the grant and we heard within six weeks that we got the money,” continued Keith.

“We’ve used the money to get balls and bibs and got a grass cutter from a local firm. It’s really good and it’s helping the club.”

The final piece of the current development of Aspatria Hornets RFLC was the maintenance of the pitch.

Keith continued: “We needed a grass cutter with variable cut and powerful enough to pull an airiator and roller to maintain a good quality pitch.

“Thanks to the Rugby League World Cup 2021 Capital Grants Programme we received enough to purchase the grass cutter.”

Along with portable flood lights provided by Cumbria County Council community grants funding, all teams can now train at night and during the winter.