Bere Regis Sports Club is a registered charity, first registered as charity number 301100 on 29th October 1962. The charity objectives are the management of the recreation ground and the promotion of recreational activity in the local community. The recreation ground is now vested with the Charity Commission Official Custodian. Part of the land was gifted to the National Plying Field’s Association by conveyance on 4th December 1929, by the former land owners, the Drax family. The other part of the ground, leased from a Drax family trust, was purchased by the charity (the club) in 2019 at auction after the trustees representing the Drax family put it on the market without consultation.

As well as managing the public recreation ground the club acts as the “umbrella organisation” for the football and cricket sections, each of which has an organising committee and representatives on the sports club management committee. The football and cricket sections are therefore clubs in their own rights, affiliated to the appropriate governing body (The Football Association and the England & Wales Cricket Board) but, because of the charity structure, operate within the sports club governing document, as are the pool and darts sections.

The sports club therefore provides and pays for the upkeep of the ground, which is freely available to members of the public, at the same time as having to provide facilities that meet the set criteria to enable the football and cricket sections to compete in their respective county leagues. Needless to say, there is sometimes a conflict of interests that needs to be managed and we can’t please everyone all of the time.

The club receives no regular income from any outside agencies and therefore has to raise the funds necessary to maintain the ground and associated buildings, which it does by charging membership and match fees to those who play for teams organised by the various sports sections, by holding fund-raising events, by maintaining the bar and by applying for grant aid to help fund larger projects.