A CROWD-FUNDING campaign has been launched to fund urgent repairs so a social club can continue to hold the musical festivals and outdoor events it has become renowned for.
Stoke Prior Sports and Country Club, which dates back to the 1920s, has an outdoor building housing toilets and showers but, over the winter, it was damaged by storms Ciara and Dennis, causing the roof to leak.
The drive to pay for the repairs is aimed at raising £10,000 for the club which, like others, has been closed during the Covid-19 pandemic.
It is set in ten acres of lawned grounds and has a great tradition of hosting to a wide variety of local festivals, community gatherings and sporting activities and relies on the outdoor building for these events.
Among them are Breaking Bands and Raising Steam in May, Sonic Rock Solstice in June, Wizzafest in July, Beermageddon in August and On Board the Craft in September.
Redditch Westerners hold monthly events, Shakespeare’s Steam and Model Railway Rally is at Easter and a new Joefest is planned for May 2021.
The football pitch is used by AFC Bromsgrove juniors and the bowling green is home to Stoke Prior Bowling Club.
With reduced income, due to the closure of the venue for the past few months, the club does not have the cash to finance the necessary repairs.
Manager Mark Goddard has set up a GoFundMe page with the help of staff James Maycroft and Natasha Jones.
Depending on how much is raised they will repair, renovate or replace the building.
Stoke Prior Sports and Country Club began life back in the 1920s as a wooden building constructed by the workers of the nearby ICI factory.
It eventually became a members’ club but burnt down in the 1980s, leading to portable cabins being stationed on the car park to keep the club going for the members until the existing brick building could be built.
The club was sold to its current owners Wilf Goddard and Nigel Meredith in 2001 and has been managed by Wilf’s grandson Mark since 2015 where it has continued its role at the heart of the Bromsgrove community.
Visit facebook.com/StokePriorClub/ for more information and click here to donate.
