BERRY Hill Rugby Club want to develop a new £166k changing block at their Lakers Road ground.

They revealed full details of their plans on Tuesday to one of the most powerful men in rugby – Rugby Football Union chief executive Ian Ritchie.

Mr Ritchie visited both Berry Hill and Drybrook as part of a national fact-finding tour.

At Berry Hill, the former CEO of the All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, who also served on the boards of the Football League and Wembley Stadium, listened intently to ambitious club plans.

He said: "It's fantastic to see an amateur club do things so professionally. For me, it's good to see the total picture.

"I'm only 10 weeks into the job so it's vital I get a feel for the grass-roots game. This particular area is such a cauldron of the game it's very important I come here.

"The RFU is one union. I don't want clubs to see us as a disembodied group of people from Twickenham. I want to know what we can do to help clubs."

Berry Hill's John Evans told the RFU chief that the Forest culture had changed dramatically in recent years, but rugby remained an integral part of village life. He also spoke about the club's plans to double the size of its changing room block and how it would be funded.

The club has already applied for a £50k grant from Sport England and received £20k in donations from members, along with promises of labour in kind amounting to £19k.

The rest of the money would be sought from Rugby Football Foundation grants and loans. Mr Evans said: "We want our junior section to be the mass feeder for the club for the next 25 years.

"We need to improve our facilities to maximise revenue, but the changing room extension project is driven by the fact that we need more room for the juniors."

Adrian Vaughan echoed those words, saying: "The club's focus is on the juniors. If we build it, they will come."