Canterbury Rugby Club’s future is looking bright on and off the pitch after they were awarded a £30,000 grant toward new floodlights.

The money is coming from the Viridor Credits Environmental Company and means every first team game at Merton Lane next season will be able to kick-off at 3pm.

Chairman Giles Hilton was visibly moved when club secretary Alison Williams broke the news of the grant at a sponsors’ lunch ahead of Canterbury’s final home game of the season against CS Rugby 1863 on Saturday.

Mr Hilton (pictured) said: "The current floodlighting system was installed in 1982 and is not good enough for level 4 rugby.

"There’s always been a determination to try and play floodlit rugby and it means we can kick-off every first team game at 3pm.

"More importantly, it means we can extend what we do with the minis and the juniors. A proper set of floodlights just opens us up to rugby 52 weeks of the year."

The total cost of installing the six 200 lux floodlights is estimated to be between £40,000-£45,000 with the rest of the money being donated by private benefactors.

Canterbury complete their championship-winning National League 3 London and SE campaign away to Bishop's Stortford on Saturday and will be aiming for their 25th win in 26 matches. They return to National 2 South next season.