The Board of Directors and support staff held our Development Planning Meeting at the Duke of Edinburgh Hotel on Saturday and whilst the document itself is very much in draft form there was some really good discussions around how we want to grow the club.

We had a vision in last year’s plan of being a sustainable yet growing club and not a great deal has changed from then, but we have some key areas of focus.

We are all very passionate about growing the fan base in Barrow.

We will inevitably lose some away support this season with the likes of Bradford and Widnes no longer visiting us but we’ve never been big believers in relying on opposition followers.

It is up to us to grow our own fan base.

We will very much be targeting the youngsters in the area. Some of the team targets are around putting in consistently winning performances, especially at home, and hopefully that will entertain some of our crowd who are perhaps new to the game.

There is a train of thought that rugby league is slowly dying in the town.

Whilst some of the amateur clubs are having real problems fielding one team, never mind two, we don’t subscribe to the thought that the decline is terminal.

It may need some inventive thinking but there is no reason why Barrow couldn’t be a flag bearer in the revitalisation of the game.

Barrow Raiders would welcome the formation of a think-tank with all with an interest welcome to share ideas.

Our discussions got even more wide ranging and we felt that the whole town of Barrow needed some form of revitalisation and Barrow Raiders want to be part of that too. We think that our Community programme has shown exactly what can be done and other organisations such as Barrow Bid aren’t prepared to accept that the town is beyond hope.

Let’s be honest, the place does need some improvement, but it is still a fantastic place to live.

The town produced Submarines that go beyond Engineering excellence providing security of work for thousands.

We have affordable housing, the beautiful Lake District on our doorstep and some of the best beaches in the land.

Our challenge is to make Barrow Raiders part of the overall improvement of the town but by also working with the town.

If Barrow Raiders could one day make Super League and Barrow AFC make the Football League this all adds to the attraction of the town.