Fire in Dulwich Village - Friday 11 June 2010

[stew_hartley]

Not sure if any of you spotted it, but someone set fire to a lock up just off Dulwich Village on Friday late afternoon. The resulting damage was that KCH Rugby lost all of their rugby playing and training equipment. A real problem for a self funded organisation.

For those that don't know us, we are guests at the Griffin Sports Club, which is operated by King's College London, of which we are not a part of. All our costs for equipment, pitch fees, etc, come from fundraising and membership fees.

If anyone has any ideas or leads with regard to helping us raise around ?3k to replace our equipment, we'd really appreciate the help. We have sponsorship opportunities and also fundraising ideas but we need help from the local community. We've around 80 members based in the local area. Most are in full time employment. Some have growing families and some are single. All are home owners or renting in the area so we have an ideal network of individuals that could help promote local businesses.

Please contact us via our website at www.kchrfc.co.uk or by email to chairman @ kchrfc.co.uk

Thanks.

Stewart

Club Chairman

[Sue]

Please don't think I am unsympathetic, but was there any reason why you did not insure the equipment?

[hellosailor]

Sue, just for once, why don't you ask yourself the question 'is my comment making the world a slightly nicer place or a slightly meaner place' before you post.

[Sue]

Just for once maybe you could do the same :-S

ETA: I was not intending to be mean, but it did seem a lot of expensive equipment not to be insured - and I did say I was not unsympathetic.

ETA: Out of all my posts, please could you let me know which ones you perceive as "mean"? In a PM would do, thanks.

ETA: Perhaps you could also let me know which ones you perceive as making the world a nicer place. You could even work out the percentage of each. Thanks.

ETA: If you don't know how to find all my posts, you can do it by clicking on my name. I await your analysis with interest.

:-$

[HAL9000]

I am not being unsympathetic either, but commercial sponsorship notwithstanding, ?37.50 x 80 members = ?3,000.00. Simples!

[SteveT]

Hal cutting the flummery!:))

[hellosailor]

HAL that's true - maybe it'd actually be cheaper to ask all the club members if they wouldn't mind finding that money than possibly outlaying more on organising a fundraiser? Maybe that makes the best finanical sense, it can be costly setting up events that are meant to make money!

Stew, if you do organise a fundraiser, car boot sale etc at the club to try and re-coup the loss, post the details on here and I'm sure people will pop along to support you. Good luck with it.

[stew_hartley]

In answer to the question about insurance, premiums for commercial insurance of lock ups are extortionate and do not make it viable. The grounds themselves are insured but KCL have a large estate and to keep their premiums low, their excess is beyond our loss. Unfortunately it comes down to risk analysis or quite simply...a gamble.

In respect of the members, our running costs over the course of a year are high, in the tens of thousands. We have pitch fees to pay, playing kit, first aid equipment, travel, playing insurance, maintenance, etc, etc. Our members support the day to day running of the club as we get no revenue from the bar or facilities in any way. We have to budget carefully to maintain cash flow and pay the bills on time. As we are not a profit-making organisation we cannot get credit on accounts. We manage this process very well and as a club have been in existence for 141 years. Unfortunately, there is only so much you can ask your members to pay before they find another club to play for. Many of these guys live in the area because of the club so having a health club is good for the businesses in the community.

I do appreciate that this may seem like we?re after the easy option. The truth is quite the opposite. What we do have is a group of people from our local community who regularly use the services of many businesses in the area. Channelling this business towards those who support us is a win-win situation for all. We're not suggesting for a moment that we want the local businesses to donate ?3k. We're just letting people know our situation and whether their support can help us all.

If we do organise a fundraiser, we'll be sure to post it here. We understand the flip side of organising event and think we can do much with support from others in kind, rather than a substantial outlay for little return.

[Sue]

stew_hartley Wrote:

-------------------------------------------------------

> In answer to the question about insurance,

> premiums for commercial insurance of lock ups are

> extortionate and do not make it viable. The

> grounds themselves are insured but KCL have a

> large estate and to keep their premiums low, their

> excess is beyond our loss. Unfortunately it comes

> down to risk analysis or quite simply...a gamble.

>

>

xxxxxxxxx

That's understandable.

If you have a fundraiser and you'd like tickets to www.thegooseisout.com as raffle prizes, please let me know :)

[stew_hartley]

Thanks Sue. We are looking at a raffle as part of a social event in early July. I pass your offer onto our social team who will no doubt be in touch.

Very generous so thanks again.

[Sue]

I'm very sorry if this thread has been lounged as a result either of my response to hellosailor's first post (still no explanation or apology forthcoming) or because of my inclusion of the Goose website address.

Admin - I had to put the website address so that stew_hartley would know what I was offering.