MEMBERS of Deal Wanderers Sports Club are bracing themselves for possible disappointment over plans to build a £650,000 clubhouse at their Drill Field ground.

They want to create a modern multi-use modern sports facilion for the whole community on the site of the pavilion at the former Royal Marines Barracks sports field - the Wanderers' home since last summer.

They have been given planning approval for the project but raising the finance looks set to prove an increasingly difficult problem.

Wanderers, who run rugby, football and netball teams, plan to lay a netball court at the Drill Field which they will share with Deal Parochial School.

The club are hoping to win a £500,000 grant from the Sport England Lottery Fund. But, with the sale of Lotto tickets in decline, Sport England has considerably less money available for projects like this.

Wanderers' final grant application will be made to Sport England within the next few days and expect to hear a decision with three months. But the signs do not look good.

Geoff Davies, chairman of Wanderers' clubhouse development committee, said: “The clubhouse has been costed at £650,000 and we think that we can raise £150,000 ourselves. We’ve asked for a Lottery grant for the rest."