ILKLEY Rugby Club is calling upon volunteers to help get the club ready for rugby.

The Club on Denton Road is taking part in NatWest RugbyForce 2020, a nationwide programme developed in partnership with England Rugby which provides an opportunity for rugby clubs to open their doors to their local communities, team members and volunteers to help make improvements to their clubs ahead of the return to rugby.

It follows guidance from Department of Digital, Culture, media and Sport (DCMS) that club’s can play Ready4Rugby, an adapted non-contact game and O2 Touch.

Postponed from June due to the pandemic, Ilkley Rugby Club will be welcoming volunteers down to the club on Saturday, September 5 and is asking them to pitch in and roll up their sleeves to carry out much needed maintenance, some repairs and upgrades to the club’s facilities.

Ilkley Rugby Chairman, Andrew Munro said: “This is an ideal opportunity for our volunteers and players to help get the Club’s facilities into great shape so we can welcome back the community and members as we work and train towards a return to play.’’.

This year, NatWest is offering more help to support the rugby community than ever before, providing an opportunity for a record number of clubs to get involved in the programme, with grants ranging from £500 to £3000 awarded to clubs to help renovate facilities, helping to ensure clubs remain sustainable for longer in these challenging times.

Ilkley Rugby Club will continue to follow Government Coronavirus guidelines and ensure all activities fall within guidelines present at the time of the event to ensure safety of all participants.

If you would like to get involved and support the club, please contact Andrew Munro on andrewmmunro@outlook.com or telephone 07741450710

To stay up to date with NatWest’s rugby activity, follow @NatWestRugby on Twitter.