by Chris Harper

NEWCASTLE are to unveil their most ambitious project yet with the £200,000 refurbishment of their changing rooms.

The Lilleshall Road club has had to stump up £60,000 towards the cost of providing plush new facilities that will be opened on Sunday.

Four new changing rooms will be en-suite and two others will have showers.

They will be a far cry from the temporary cabins the club has had to contend with all season.

Newcastle president Tony Marsh, who has been with the club for 48 years and remembers the good old days of plunge baths, said: "With more youngsters and girls getting involved, we had to increase and improve the changing rooms.

"We have some 300 youngsters in the mini and junior sections, so it is mayhem on a Sunday morning."

The project is the biggest undertaken by the club and has been two-and-a-half years in the making.

The RFU have been the biggest players in terms of grant aid, while contributions have also come from Sport England and Lafarge Aggregates Ltd.

Marsh said: "We are dealing with all different age groups and promoting rugby in the schools. The youngsters show enthusiasm, but they have to have a place to come to. They are our future."

Marsh says the club has done "bits and pieces" over the years in terms of improvements, but this is "the big one".

He said: "It is a major shift from what we have been doing in the past, but we don't stop here.

"We have to continue to develop and new floodlights are the next on the agenda. They have been up for 20 years and are deteriorating."

Newcastle had to re-negotiate the lease on the ground with Newcastle Council before they could commit to the project and they have security of tenure for the next 25 years.

As for playing matters, the club's chairman of selectors, Clive Ward, said: "Considering we have no proper changing facilities, no floodlights and no training pitch, the season has gone well.

"We have good attendances at training and the first, second and colts teams are winning.

"We did not set our targets too high, concentrating more on the fitness and fun factor, so we are more than satisfied with results."

Newcastle had hoped to have the refurbishment work completed in the summer, but were held up by a delay with the grants being approved.

Ward said: "We wrote to opponents apologising for the lack of facilities, but there has never been a problem.

"We have only been able to accommodate one fixture, so if we have another team at home they have used Newcastle Community High School to change."