Further good news was announced by the Government last Thursday as they have now given the green light for outdoor performances.

Clearly, they want to help the hospitality industry as much as possible and Barrow Raiders are keen to take advantage.

On Sunday, we have a Soul and Motown event at the ground and this promises to be an event for all the family. Hopefully we can help bring the community together and at the same time boost our coffers with some food and drink sales.

For the first couple of weeks of opening our beer garden, we have been complimented about how safe the public feel and how well organised we have been in terms of keeping the set-up in line with social distancing and ensuring table service stops anyone from being thirsty.

Clearly the large outdoor space is our number one advantage and we could literally fit a couple of thousand on the pitch and would not be close to rubbing shoulders.

The fact that we are enclosed also means it is very safe for children and we are actively encouraging families to attend.

I have been in talks this week around putting a children’s and adults’ pantomime on the pitch in August and this fits nicely in line with our strategy of being a community hub.

When I first joined the club one of the very first things I remember saying was that we needed to make more use of our facilities and that it simply wasn’t viable to run a club on a dozen home games a season.

I always saw an increase in the variety of income streams as vital for the growth of the club and we are now starting to see things come to fruition.

I had a chat with our head coach, Paul Crarey, at the weekend and he has very close links with people from Australian clubs and he had been passed advice that the club should be a business first and rugby secondary and that is the vision I have long since had.

Obviously, if the business side of things grow then the benefits to the rugby side of the club is obvious as we can then look to put a stronger team on the field and hopefully we will then spiral upwards with bigger crowds, even more income and a real ambition to climb the divisions.

The coronavirus pandemic has probably highlighted the great benefits our venue has, but assuming the virus has passed by next summer this will not be a one-off venture. We intend to put a programme of events together for next summer with the highlight being Euro 2021. We intend to purchase a giant screen and we can literally see our highest crowd of the season watching England at Craven Park.

Obviously, we all still hope for the return of rugby league and the fact that we are allowed a concert in the ground but not rugby league seems bizarre.

However, I am confident that this anomaly will be quickly addressed and with it the return of the season. I have read articles saying that small crowds will be allowed to enter grounds but we are just waiting for confirmation from our governing body that they have had a plan to return signed off by the Government.