A TARGET of August Bank Holiday Weekend has been set for Darlington FC to play its first home game at Blackwell Meadows.

Darlington FC director Richard Cook said a team made up of representatives from Darlington FC, Darlington RFC and Darlington Borough Council were working hard on the preparations for the groundshare now that funding of £100,000 had been secured from supporters.

Work is due to start on improvements at the ground once the rugby season has finished on May 16.

Mr Cook said procurement was already underway with the first job likely to be the installation of new fencing around the pitch.

It is expected that work will be stepped up in mid-June.

A new FA standard pitch is to be laid, which will be able to cope with the demands of both rugby and football being played on it.

Mr Cook said the club's had targeted the August Bank Holiday Weekend as the date when the first home game could be played.

Although this could be a couple of weeks into the season, he stressed that home games could still be played at Bishop Auckland's Heritage Park if necessary.

"We are expecting the first home game to be a sell-out so there will be no soft launch - it will be straight in with a large crowd," he said.

Darlington FC director John Tempest added: "The timeline is tight but if all parties get on with what they said they would do, it's doable."

Mr Tempest said the return to Darlington was a huge step forward for the club.

"We've lost a lot of people who used to come and watch us in recent years but we hope they will give us an another chance when we get to Blackwell Meadows.

"We think it's a lot more enjoyable experience following Darlington now; we've got a completely different ethos with a fantastic supporter volunteer base but we are also run in an extremely professional manner."

The club hopes the return to Darlington will mean larger attendances, bigger incomes from sponsors and more opportunities for corporate packages.

Six turnstiles will be built beside the existing clubhouse, which will get a new entrance.

A new Tin Shed stand will be built using portal frames from the Tin Shed which once stood at Darlington's former Feethams ground.

The stand was due to be built on the west side of the pitch but has been moved to the east side after Northumbrian Water raised concerns about plans to build over a large mains water pipe which runs under the ground.

The clubs also plan to build a 250-space car park in fields beside the ground.

The ground will be upgraded to achieve FA Category B status for the ground which will have a capacity of 3,000 which is the minimum requirement for National League North.

Mr Tempest added: "These are really exciting times.

"Now that we are heading back to Darlington we've got a lot of businesses popping their head up asking what they can do, how they can help.

"And Darlington RFC are determined to give fans visiting Blackwell Meadows a really polished matchday experience."

Darlington FC manager Martin Gray said the club could not have asked for a better end to the season.

"Hopefully we’ll be back in Darlington around August/September time.

“The town will be buzzing, people will be buying season tickets, we’ve got some other positive news to come soon, so these pieces of the jigsaw are coming together.

“There’s been lots of hardship for the football club since I became involved in 1999, so it’s nice that we’re now getting rewarded for all of the hard work that has been put in.”