The president of High Wycombe Rugby Club has hailed the support the club has received after a fire broke out in the clubhouse this week, and has assured that damage is minimal.

Kelvin Hardy, from High Wycombe Rugby Union Football Club, thanked the local rugby club as well as those further afield for their help following the blaze in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The club now plans to focus on sorting out the insurance and clean-up operation, with the changing room and showers expected to be in use as early as next week.

A number of rugby activities have been cancelled until after Christmas but the upstairs clubhouse is expected to be intact for the team’s traditional Boxing Day match and carol service.

Unfortunately the bar is expected to take longer to get back into working order, but a temporary bar will be set up in the meantime, according to Mr Hardy.

Around 20 firefighters were called to Kingsmead Road at around 12.36 am to reports of a fire – labelled as “major” by HWRUFC - which caused “severe damage” to the ground floor store room and smoke damage to the first floor.

It is believed the blaze was caused by an electrical fault.

Mr Hardy assured damage is confined to the cellar however there is “considerable” smoke damage to the upstairs clubhouse.

He said: “Don and I were called to the club at about 1:00am yesterday morning by our security contractor.

“They had already called the fire brigade after seeing smoke coming from the building. When I arrived there were 4 fire engines in attendance but the fire was already in the process of being put out.

“The fire was confined to the middle cellar directly under the bar. There was no fire damage elsewhere…

“Unfortunately the smoke travelled directly into the bar above and into the upstairs clubhouse. As a result there has been considerable smoke damage upstairs.

“The smoke damage leaves an unpleasant oily, dirty film over everything, which needs to be professionally removed.

“The good news is that the changing rooms and rest of the clubhouse are reasonably OK apart from the pervading smell of smoke everywhere. We are hopeful that the changing rooms and showers will soon be back in action, maybe even next week.”