Simon Bilous has recently stood down as chairman of Dursley Rugby Club after 11 years at the helm.

He was also on the club’s committee for some 32 years, so the club have been a big part of his life for a long time.

But even though he is taking a step back – Phil Sprague has taken over as chairman – the good news is that Bilous is still going to be very much involved with the go-ahead club.

“I stood down at the AGM, I felt I’d done my bit,” Bilous told The Local Answer, “but there are still a number of projects that are ongoing at the club which I’m very interested in and would like to see through.”

Chief among them, certainly in the immediate future, is the club’s tree planting project on Sunday 20^th March which will see some 2,620 trees planted with the help of hundreds of people of all ages from in and around Dursley.

“We bought some land adjacent to the club just before Covid,” explained Bilous. “The county council was selling it and it was a big opportunity to buy it.

“We wanted to expand the training areas so that the rugby pitches can be rested a bit and used only for matches.”

Dursley run three men’s teams – the flagship men’s 1^st team are top of Gloucestershire One South – a women’s team and a minis and juniors section, which caters for some 350 youngsters.

In addition, the club, which can be found on The Avenue in Stinchcombe off the B4060, is also home to Dursley Running Club and Stinchcombe Stragglers Cricket Club.

The new land won’t be used as a pitch as such but will provide more training areas for people to use.

“Had we not bought the extra land it would have meant our pitches would continue to get no rest at all,” added Bilous.

So where does the tree planting project fit in?

“We’re a very nature friendly club,” said Bilous. “The new field had some hedgerow but it was very old and poor quality.

“We will be replacing it with a new hedgerow, which will be planted around the perimeter of the new training area.”

The club have teamed up with the Woodland Trust and Glosclimate – they are providing the technical expertise and the trees – and it’s certainly going to be a special day on 20^th March.

“All members of all three clubs – rugby, running and cricket; adults and kids – are invited to come down and help with the tree planting,” said Bilous.

“We will provide the shovels – people will be swapping their sports boots for wellington boots!

“It will be people power at its very best.”

And by 20^th March, Dursley Rugby Club should also have something else to celebrate because barring some major turnaround, their currently unbeaten men’s 1^st XV will have clinched the Gloucestershire One South title and promotion to the next league.