Almost six years ago I ran my second – and what I thought final – half marathon the last time the club faced real adversity off the park; raising over £5,500 to go towards the installation of floodlights at New Dundas Park when our promotion to the Lowland League (Tier 5 of Scottish Football) was at risk. Through the unbelievable generosity of the Rose fan base and an unparalleled work ethic of some committee members and sponsors, this was achieved within a staggering three weeks and the club took its rightful place in the Lowland League.

What followed in the intervening years was the stuff that even the best fiction writers would do well to dream up, with the club reaching the dizzy heights of the professional leagues in 2023 for the first time in its 140 year history and in the process the first Midlothian club to do so.

That status was put at risk due to non playing reasons on November 12th last year. A SPFL statement was released which outlined the result of a disciplinary hearing as a result of the downgrade of the club’s overall club license award by the SFA from Bronze to Entry level due to the gradient of the hallowed playing surface at New Dundas Park. A six point deduction was immediately imposed and the club were given a little over two months to provide the SPFL with funding arrangements and programme of works to allow the club to undertake pitch levelling works this Summer. This edict came at a time when the club were still reeling from the passing of Club Chairman and leader Charlie Kirkwood not two weeks previous, who on a personal level I considered to be my best friend for the large majority of my 26 year stay in Scotland.

Due to the fact that the club owns New Dundas Park these works is something that its going to have to fund itself and the amounts mooted to remedy the situation for a club of its size are eye watering, running into a six figure sum. Not for the first time in its recent history however the club and its fanbase continues to show remarkable persevillience, with working groups set up to help raise funds which the support base and wider community has contributed generously towards to date.

For my part in the intervening years since 2019 a number of retirements took place. The first was an immediate cessation of running at anything like that distance ever again, with lockdown due to Covid having as much to do with that as anything else, but as anyone who has ever tried to run any distance will tell you, once you stop it is very difficult to start again. The second was hanging up the abacus/pen/phone in October 2023 and stepping down from my various roles I had held at the club since 2009, due primarily to health and family reasons. I am at least in the short term unlikely to return to these at any point soon due to said reasons but I can’t sit idly by when others are doing so much to keep the club in its current position, both on the pitch and off it.

I have therefore set this page up to help raise funds towards the pitch levelling works at New Dundas Park by entering into the Strathclyde Half Marathon which takes place on Sunday 4th May (Edinburgh was full), with a view to trying to get under my original 2019 target time of 2 hours, which given I am six years older and pretty much starting from scratch will be a challenge in itself.

Thanks for looking at this page and in advance if you choose to donate anything towards it, realising there continues to be a constant flow of pitch funding initiatives locally and the same people invariably get asked several times over to contribute. If you aren’t in a position to donate then I would really appreciate if you could share this on your social media channels in order to spread this a bit wider, as unlike 2019 I don’t have the benefit of the club’s social media channels at my fingertips any longer.

Irrespective of how successful or otherwise I am in my small fundraising effort I have absolutely zero doubt that the club will meet the latest challenge set as it so often has in the past. It will prevail.

What a club.

COTR

Brendan Parkinson

Former Treasurer/Press, Media & Comms, Bonnyrigg Rose

PS: Justgiving charge 2.9% + 35p in fees for every donation received to cover payment processing charges. I will cover any charges taken off the total raised on the page, so the total amount raised on this page will be the total amount that the club will receive.