BASINGSTOKE RFC is launching a £50,000 fundraising appeal to mark its diamond jubilee.

The club was founded in April 1948, making it 60 years old this month, and to celebrate this milestone, members will be holding, and taking part in, a wide range of fundraising activities throughout the rest of the year.

The aim of the appeal is to raise a grand total of £50,000, which would allow the club to complete the main stand, buy state-of-the-art dugouts and improve changing facilities.

With 'Stoke's first XV struggling on the pitch - the first team was relegated from London division one last weekend - chairman Dr Steve Tristram hopes that the appeal will reinvigorate the entire club and give the members something positive to focus on.

"Obviously, it has been a hard season and we hope that the diamond jubilee will make the club a bit happier as a whole," he said.

"It should be a good year and we have some promising events planned."

The celebrations will kick off with a Diamond Jubilee Ball, which will be held at Oakley Hall on the evening of June 28.

The event will begin at 7.15pm with a Champagne reception, followed by dinner with wine. After dinner, there will be a prize draw, an auction with a celebrity auctioneer, live music performed by Contrast and the chance for guests to win big at a casino.

Tickets are £65 each, with a table for 12 available at the reduced price of £750. For more information, or to book tickets, contact David Crabbe on 01256 323308 or e-mail david.brfc@btinternet.com

"We are hoping to raise £10,000 from the ball, which would be enough to complete the stand and buy new dugouts," said Tristram.

There are no seats on either side of the stand at Down Grange, as the planning permission originally only allowed the club to have as many seats as the original stand had. The club now has permission to fill in the gaps.

There are no dugouts beside the main pitch at present, with coaches and replacements housed on benches on the touchline. To remedy this, the club would like to buy Perspex dugouts.

In addition to the Oakley Hall ball, a number of other events and activities are being planned to mark the club's 60th birthday.

The annual donkey derby will have an extra-special twist, a party is planned to celebrate 30 years of minis rugby at the club, and a campaign to find first-team captains from down the years and see what they are doing now will be launched.

A new range of clothing featuring a special griffin and diamond logo is being produced by local company Chase Sport and will be sold to raise money for the club.

A highlight of the year will undoubtedly be the Diamond Sevens - a tournament that will take place at Down Grange in August.

"The Diamond Sevens should be a good event as we have already signed up some fairly strong senior teams," said Tristram. "There will be a total of £6,000 available in prize money, making the event the second most lucrative sevens tournament in the country.

"The plan is for the main tournament to take place on a Saturday, with a barbecue and camping overnight, and then another tournament on the Sunday."

It is hoped the various events, aside from the ball, will raise a further £40,000 for the club, allowing improvements to be made to the changing rooms at Down Grange.

"We would like to bring the changing rooms up to a modern standard," Tristram said. "We do not have any firm plans at the moment, because the criteria has changed since we last drew some up, but that is the next thing we have to look at."