A  BETHESDA rugby club has scored a £249,982 lottery windfall enabling it to create a community hub.

The funding will help pay for a rebuild of Clwb Rygbi Bethesda’s current club house and its changing rooms, at Cae Ddol Dafydd, to provide a new purpose-built community facility.

The organisation is one of seven projects across Wales sharing in a £1,982,233 sum, part of the latest round of the Big Lottery Fund’s People and Places programme.

The club, just off Station Road, in Bethesda, is widely used by community groups including scouts, local schools and sports organisations.

The project now means it will be able to provide a key space catering to the wider community, business and sporting needs of the area. The grant, over one year, will help fund capital costs of installation of a lift, refurbishment and rebuilding, increased floor space and storage.

Wil Sandison, Bethesda Rugby Club’s director, said: “As a club, we are really delighted to be given the opportunity to refurbish and rebuild the club house and the changing rooms within a five hectare area of rugby fields.

“This will not only benefit the club but the wider community and we will now be able to build in some social capital.

“It’s really great news for us, and for Bethesda, as we have about 20 different groups using the club at present.

“We now we have to sit down with architects and plan it all, the tendering and so on.

“We are hoping to get the work started in the new year and hope it will be done by September.”

The awards are made possible by money being set aside for good causes from National Lottery ticket sale.

Rona Aldrich, Wales Committee Member for the Big Lottery Fund, said: “Programmes like People and Places are making a difference to the lives of so many people in communities across Wales.

“It delivers on our promise to use National Lottery funding to regenerate and revitalise communities, tackle disadvantage head on and leave a lasting legacy.”