After reading the article by Compost Corner last week it struck me how far the club has come in such a relatively short space of time, this got me thinking about how and why we have been so successful when so many clubs seemed to be in decline.

I started at the club in 1988, the same year we moved into our Avenue Street home and into a clubhouse one third of its present size; it was a real quantum leap from the pub club we had been. The playing surfaces looked flat and green and a massive improvement on the council operated pitches the club had used hitherto at New House Farm. This transformation only came about because of the vision and tenacity our Old Boys showed in the face of bureaucracy. Quite simply without their dream coming true there would be no rugby union being played outside of school in Bolton.

It wasn’t all plain sailing, we found out very quickly the old mill pond that sat beneath our main pitches hadn’t had its final say and within no time started to spew bricks & hardcore through the paper thin veneer of top soil and grass. We then embarked on a new quest which was to span nearly three decades, cost a king’s ransom, and lose countless waterlogged games. Fast forward 28 years and we have some of the best pitches in the North West but once again it wouldn’t have been this way if the club didn’t have such committed volunteers.

If we take the clubhouse it’s been extended three times, the car park is fit for purpose and we now have our “Big Shed” that allows us to provide even greater facilities for both training and match days.

On the playing front arguably the most important event was the day a few parents decided the club should start up a Junior Section and you only have to drive down Avenue street now on a Sunday morning to see what a runaway success this has been, if you can’t make it on a Sunday any given Saturday will do because our senior sides are peppered with players who have come through the system.

I haven’t done the maths or in truth know where to start but the only way Bolton Rugby Club has survived is down to hundreds of volunteers over the years committing thousands of hours of unpaid time to make things tick. But we haven’t just survived we have thrived in a period when the once big names in NW rugby have fallen from grace, was it complacency or a failure to move with the times on their part we may never know.

We may allow ourselves a wee pat on the back but the reality is that that the journey continues and we should always be looking to improve what we do, complacency is our enemy, passion is our ally and volunteers are the lifeblood that keeps the club surging forward.

I have resisted the temptation to name anyone in person, it doesn’t really matter, they know who they are and the part they played or indeed are still playing, they don’t do it for the accolade but because it’s the right thing to do, thank you!

Mark Brocklehurst

Club Chairman