Clubbing together.

Byline: MARK WELFORD

SPORTS and social clubs in Marske put on a united front at the weekend in their fight to stay alive.

Marske Sports and Recreation Association (MSRA) collected over pounds 1100 during its Save Our Sports Clubs day aimed at raising the profile of their member clubs.

The fun day held in the car park of Marske United's GER stadium, included a charity football match, junior tennis tournament, raffle and face painting.

Billy Park, vice chairman of the MSRA and chairman of Marske United said: "It's shown a united front because all the clubs participated and worked together."

Members of MSRA - the home of Marske Utd FC among others - recently looked on as their Mount Pleasant clubhouse was razed to the ground.

"The idea of the day was to promote the association in the community to let people know that the building is gone but the association's still alive and kicking," added Billy.

The decision to close the clubhouse was made by Redcar and Cleveland council due to its dilapidated state, following the parish council's decision not to renew the lease which would have expired on September 19, 2014.

At the AGM in June involving the component parts of MSRA (football, tennis, bowls, band and social section) a new committee was elected.

The committee discovered the existing building would be expensive to repair and difficult to insure so agreed to have it demolished.

MSRA asked the parish council to extend the lease to over 50-years and will back up this request with a business plan in September.

CAPTION(S):

TEAM WORK: Demolition of Marske clubhouse, above and members of the MSRA, above left Main picture by IAN McINTYRE