Following lengthy negotiations to obtain the optimum deal for the sale of our land east of Thames Avenue and the subsequent phase one purchase of 5 acres of freehold land for our excellent new playing area, it may seem that little has been happening to further develop our playing facilities.

That is far from the true picture. Behind the scenes there has been a huge amount going on!

In April 2022 the club and former trustees were served papers informing us that the break clause in our lease signed in 1989 was to be activated.
The new lease price was extremely high and would not have been plausible or affordable unless we increased our annual trading profits by at least 10-fold.

With this in mind and using the development team that delivered phase one, we accelerated the second phase of our development plan. - to obtain ownership of the facilities that we leased.

The complexities of buying the land have been long and fraught, with many obstacles needing to be overcome. However, with the help and guidance of our legal & surveyors’ team, Micheal Pitt and Andrew Taylorson, we have reached our goal.

We are very pleased to announce the purchase of the car park, all-weather area, bowling green and our two established playing areas.

From a point of owning no playing areas 35 years ago, we are now the proud owners of around 20 acres in the Pennington area.

Club Chairman Tony Trumble said: “The lack of land ownership and lease conditions has prevented the club from moving forward at the pace we want to. This purchase is a huge development in the history of Leigh RUFC and will be the catalyst that will allow us to achieve our future ambitions”

The Board of Directors would like to thank the Development team of Tony Trumble, Derek Leake, Mike Hilton and Mike Hampson for their dedication and active roles in acquiring the land and would like to place on record our gratitude to the Milnes Gaskell family for their willingness to sell the leased land to us.

Club President Derek Leake further commented: “This is fantastic news for the club and testament to what can be achieved when we pull together.
Our aim is to encourage and support accessible and affordable sports activities, and in doing so, promote grass roots rugby union and contribute to the health and well-being of local people.
I am delighted that after over 60 years of tenancy in the area, we have now become permanent residents”.

As always, we thank those who have worked tirelessly over the years at Leigh RUFC to progress the club to this stage of our journey.