Atha open day

The Atha Allsorts hit the pitch on the Down with a mission '“ their aim to raise money for two charities, the Parchment Trust and Wooden Spoon.

The Parchment Trust is a local day centre for people with learning difficulties and Wooden Spoon is a charity of British and Irish rugby supporting mentally and physically disadvantaged children.

The players were '“ Neil Priddy, Ricky Willard, John Willard, Nigel Skippings, Tim Lusted, Doug Deeprose, Graham Brockhurst, Craig Ottley, Wes Tate, Oliver Leigh, Alex Page, Doug Morris, Guy Bentley, Bob Gillam, Dean Gooding, Billy Trivett, Henry Mann, Sean Horscroft.

The open day also included martial arts demonstrations by the Bexhill AA judo club led by Jason Meek, and live music in the afternoon from The Blue Doughnuts.

Barry Painter, who took over the running of the bar with wife Josephine in September, said: "What we want is more members in the club.

"The building needs refurbishment, so what we are trying to do is get the membership up, and get support, but also do something for charity. It is really just about trying to get members in here so we can push it forward. We need to have a complete refurbishment because it is falling down because it is so old."

"We are getting the membership up and it is happening...I think enough people know about the Atha Club, and it is early days yet but it is definitely happening. People are starting to come in.

"We have got the judo and boxing and we are trying to start two Sunday league football teams '“ our Saturday league teams have been very successful."

Meanwhile Barry is hoping to see the building returned to "its former glory" even though he knows it will be an uphill struggle and "a big task".

He commented: "My uncles used to come down year years ago and told me on Rock N Roll nights you couldn't move, it was so busy."