Beechwood Regeneration Project
As fans will probably have noticed, there has been quite a lot of development in regards to the ongoing improvement of our wee stadium in the last few months. Our nearly new seats arrived in the early part of the summer after fraught activity securing extracting and transporting them all the way from Bristol City’s Ashton Gate Stadium.
After months of negotiation and deliberation we were given only a few days to get them or lose them as the stand they were in was being demolished. After finding a contractor and a haulier with great difficulty we managed by the skin of our teeth to secure the seats and get them delivered to Beechwood. A big thanks to Hugo Mosesson who supervised the whole operation down on site. A guy who believe it or not had never heard of the mighty Talbot, but who went above and beyond the call of duty to help us, much appreciated. Also Simon from Galt Transport in Dumbarton who used his contacts to great effect to get us a haulier when on a bank holiday as Galt themselves were fully subscribed, it looked very unlikely we would be able to get them but Simon helped us out to no personal gain which was again very much appreciated. Without these two who are not fans we would have been up the proverbial Swanny without a paddle. A big shout also to Alan Howatson from Barr Construction who enabled us permission to get the seats at no cost and get into the site to remove and load them.
We then had the issue of getting the seats unloaded at Beechwood in less than an hour or incur further charges from the haulier. Enter Tabot fans and committee who turned up in good numbers and emptied the load in jig time.
Installation of the seats could have cost us a pretty penny with the cheapest quote well in excess of £2000. However, the fans came to the rescue again headed by the one and only Robbie Robertson ably assisted by Alex Gemmell with other fans including many of the club committee also helping out. The seats are now installed and the stand looks much the better for it and a much more comfortable afternoon spectating in it awaits the fans. Not forgetting Dougie Aitken contribution who with the ground assistant removed and got rid of all the old seats another phenomenal effort. I am reliably informed that the effervescent Geordie Palmer is organising a gang to administer a good scrub up for the stand. After that a lick of paint for the concrete steps and Girders will see it looking brand new. Netting will be installed to keep the bird soiling from desecrating our new seats, this is being organised as we speak.To put this into perspective, one quote received for the complete job to remove and dispose of all old seats and install 500 new ones was £40,000. The job as is cost BRC less than £3000 and I think everyone will agree a good resolution all round. Brilliant effort to all concerned. Well done.
The toilet blocks have arrived, we now have four units that will be utilized and there are various options for these. However whatever permutation we agree on the ground will have at the end of this fully equipped ladies, gents and disabled toilet facilities, a new catering block, programme memorabilia shop and an office come hospitality area. Two grants for the toilet part of this project have been secured and these blocks will be placed one next to the Coal Road enclosure and the other next to the pie hut. Installing servicing for this will start soon. The new catering shop and hospitality facilities will be created out of a combination of the other two units, the big cabin next to stand and the one behind the coal Road enclosure, details on this will be released soon but at the time of writing the current hospitality block looks like being relocated as a catering unit and the big unit being made into office/shop/ hospitality, watch this space.
Funeral
BRC CONTINUED
BRC thank all the fans, and some who aren’t fans, for their help superb support. We really appreciate all the volunteers who help us and those who donate so generously to our fundraisers. Big John Holroyd has a temporary home for his memorabilia shop in the big cabin, but as has been stated this will be made permanent somewhere. This is a good source of income for us and we really appreciate the effort from John and the support from the fans in this venture.
Hope the fans are encouraged by the recent activity, BRC and Auchinleck Talbot FC will continue to work hard to maintain and improve the stadium and our ambition is to have the best non-league ground in Scotland
