VICE-chairman Chris Reeves insists Poole Town’s move to Bearwood is still alive ahead of a public meeting over improvements to their current Tatnam home.

Club officials will outline plans for an extra building to provide better social facilities, ahead of Poole’s return to the Southern League Premier Division, at Oakdale South Road Middle School on Thursday at 6.30pm.

But Reeves said the work did not signal an end to their dream of a new stadium, which has been beset by a funding shortfall of £500,000, although Poole’s long-serving director conceded that any move was currently on the backburner.

Reeves told the Daily Echo: “There is a significant shortfall in the funding at the moment and £500,000 is a big hole to fill. There are ways and means where we could bridge the gap and we are exploring those avenues, but it will take a while.

“There is every prospect that the Bearwood project will still go ahead but, in the short term, we need to improve the facilities at Tatnam. What we need to do there is manageable and realistic.

“Many people are keen for us to stay at Tatnam because of the amount of people we touch and, as a club, we do want to stay within our community. Bearwood does depend on different things coming together so we will have to see what develops.”

On the proposed new building, Reeves added: “Virtually every team we play next season will have good social facilities, many of them up to Conference standards.

“For other teams’ players to have to come here and eat their post-match meal outside is an embarrassment. We need to be able to provide a basic level of hospitality. There is so much for us to be proud of at Tatnam but, at the moment, the facility for hospitality is not one of them.”