Somerset Bridge Recreation Club (SBRC) president Marc Bean yesterday challenged his members to “step up to the plate” and get their house in order after the White Hill Club received a healthy chunk of Government funding.

The once thriving establishment has been left in a state of “disrepair”, stripped of its liquor license and immersed in considerable debt — despite the venue continuing to host football and cricket matches.

But with Government running to the rescue in the form of a much-needed $200,000 cash injection, Bean and his newly-formed administration have been given the challenging task of getting the West End facility fully functional.

And the Bridge president intends to hit the ground running, with the hopes of having restoration work at the spacious sports facility completed by mid-summer.

Bean also said the implementation of productive sporting and various social programmes were high on the administration’s list of priorities.

“The next steps will be renovation, programme development and the cultivation of thought and action that best serves the community. The members have realised just how much the club is important to our community and have learned to respect and honour it more,” Bean said.

“And so I expect the membership to step up and rally around the plate to help make it all happen because this is a tremendous boost and we are very grateful to the Government of Bermuda who have proven once again that they do practise what they preach in terms of their agenda for developing the country.

“What we need to focus on now is to use these funds in a proper manner in order to get our club, in particular, back up and running and then prove that we can administer it in a manner which creates an environment that the entire community can partake and participate in.”

Bean said anything short of that objective would be a failure on the part of his administration and a breach in the trust that Government has invested in them to deliver.

“Because we are conscious that we received a substantial amount of the grant relative to the rest of the clubs, we also have a responsibility and obligation to ensure that we do deliver and ensure the club is back in a functioning manner,” he added.

“Another of our priorities is to continue to develop various programmes that have been instituted over the past few months and most importantly cultivate a level of service and respect within the members and the community at large for the club and what it represents to ensure the environment changes.”

And with regard to the considerable debt Somerset Bridge have incurred through what Bean termed “bad management”, the senior club executive said he intends to “work closely” with creditors.

“We do have tremendous financial challenges that we inherited from the past and I will be looking forward to see if we can get some of the debt written off because it’s very important we have a clean slate and are not burdened with past bad decisions or bad activity,” he added.

“Our intention is to work very hard to see that the debt is written off and look to work with other creditors to ensure that all of our bills are paid. And I’m very confident in my team.”

Yesterday’s announcement ended months of speculation suggesting that Somerset Bridge would be dissolved and replaced by another community-orientated facility.

And Government has vowed to pump additional funding into clubs such as Somerset Bridge if they can in turn produce sustainable and productive programmes at all levels.

“The plan is that we assist Somerset Bridge Recreation Club in their move to develop positive programmes for young people in that area because the club plays a major role in the community,” Sports Minister Randy Horton said.