Hello everyone,
Ever get that feeling of déjà vu?
Sadly, once again, from 12-midnight on Wednesday 4 November, the club will have to shut, and all organised rugby activities will have to stop during the period of lock down. Effectively we are back to 'Stage A' on the RFU’s Return to Rugby pathway until 2 December at the earliest.
It is our intention to keep the playing fields open for members’ recreational use provided they adhere to the government’s household social distancing guidelines. In terms of training a maximum of two players can participate in socially distanced (two metres plus) individual training sessions outside without sharing equipment.
This is a great shame as all our age groups have been doing a fantastic job in getting as many people back into playing mode, and it was great to see the activity levels that were being achieved throughout the week and weekends despite all the challenges being thrown at us.
It has also been fantastic to see the clubhouse busy again, as either a refuge from the inclement weather or as a venue to have a beer and watch some superb elite rugby on the box (sadly I exclude the Wales games from this!). It’s been a great credit to Dave and all the volunteers who have supported him to make this a viable option for us.
You have probably noticed that our pitches look superb and again full credit to the ground staff for all they do in this respect. Although the leagues for this season have been cancelled, the RFU are looking to return to some form of adapted contact game in 2021, so hopefully the pitches will get some use – a case of watch this space.
We would also like to say a big thank you to all those members who have already renewed their membership this year. As at the end of October, 636 members had renewed (919 last year) which is a tremendous confidence boost for us all. It shows that our core membership is fully supportive of the club and keen to ensure that we can continue to provide the facilities that we do.
Once again, I would also like to convey our thanks to our sponsors and advertisers, particularly Imagine Cruising and Jeremy Taylor for their continued support and encouragement.
Off the field, our gym project is progressing more slowly than we would like. Due to Covid delays etc SSE and their contractors still have not been on site to upgrade our electricity supply, which is a turnkey to enable us to complete the project and give us some much-needed indoor space.
Richard Crapper has continued to fund these projects and I am pleased to say that with careful management, our finances are in good order. That said, we continue to explore several grant opportunities to provide additional comfort if needed. At this point I would also like to say a big thank you to our Colts who have donated £2,000 of their tour fundraising back to the club to help support day-to-day running costs. I think this really emphasises a “one club” mentality that we have.
Due to restrictions we have been unable to hold our Volunteers Evening this year at which we have the opportunity to say thank you to the Senior and Junior Club Person of the Year for the 2019/20 season. Likewise, several of the age group presentations were also cancelled. We are currently working on an Online Awards release, so please keep watch on our social media feeds over the next week or so for this.
Take care,
