A £500,000 MAKEOVER is set to help a run down rugby clubhouse in Gwynedd transform into a state-of-the-art community hub for more than 20 local organisations.

Extensive work on the facilities at Clwb Rygbi Bethesda Rugby Club is currently underway.

The club, whose first team play in the Welsh Rugby Union Division One North, sees over 2,000 people from 20 different organisations used the facilities on a regular basis.

Peninsula home improvements based in Gaerwen on Anglesey are sponsoring the club for the 2018-19 season and in the meantime they’re also backing the redevelopment.

Will Sandison, director of rugby at Bethesda, says everyone is extremely grateful for their support.

"We were only able to come in on budget because of the very generous support of companies like Peninsula," he said.

"Although the clubhouse is owned by Clwb Rygbi Bethesda, it is very much a community hub as the pupils from Ysgol Dyffryn Ogwen and the town’s five primary schools use the facilities and pitches too."

The makeover has been made possible by a number of grants, including £250,000 from the Big Lottery Fund and £128,000 from the Rural Communities Development Fund.

The grants will help fund the costs of the installation of a lift for the building’s two floors, the refurbishment of the clubhouse and other amenities set in a five hectare area of the rugby fields.

Peninsula are set to replace all the rugby club’s external doors and windows during a major five month project.

There will also be upgrades made to the club's changing rooms, upstairs bar area, function room, office accommodation and toilets.

A major part of the clubhouse's redevelopment work will be carried out by Mold construction company Best, under the guidance of Russell Hughes Architects from Llangefni.

Peninsula Home Improvements chief executive Ken Grayson said: “I know how important the rugby club is to the town of Bethesda.

“It’s more than just a rugby club, it’s a community hub for the local people.

“Bethesda is in the heart of our catchment area and we should be giving all the help we can to its community. We should be supporting the youth of today because they are our future."