Dear Club Member,

I am writing to make you aware of some changes we are looking to make at the club for the start of next season. But first I would like to thank you for supporting the club over this past year. Whether you are a senior player, a mini-junior, a parent or a supporter, I hope you enjoyed the last season – the rugby on the pitch and the conviviality off the pitch.

On the pitch we had a very successful season. Our first Team were runners up in National League 2 North and narrowly lost the play-off for promotion to National League. So congratulations to them and all the coaching and support team on a wonderful achievement. On top of that the Raiders and Centurions both won their respective leagues, the Hadrians finished 3rd in their league, and the Colts retained the County Cup. All this at a time when many clubs are either folding and/or struggling to honour the fixtures.

At the Mini-Junior level, the game is primarily about participation, developing key skills, learning the rules and understanding the ethos of rugby. With nearly 350 youngsters playing each week the average squad size is over 30, and several of them fielding 2 teams.

Our Under 14’s were the County Champions for the second year running, and the Under 15’s had 9 players successfully making it into the Red Bulls’ Academy. Our Under 16’s Panthers had a particularly good season, getting to the quarter finals of the National Cup, and forming the vast majority of the Queen Elizabeth High School team which won the Plate at Rosslyn Park national tournament

Coaching rugby is a hugely important role in the club at all levels. At the senior level we are fortunate to have 5 excellent coaches and their contribution to the success of the season cannot be overstated. At the mini-junior level coaching is pretty much exclusively done by parents, and we extend our thanks and appreciation to the many parents who coach the 15 boys and girls teams across the age ranges.
Rugby is a contact sport and the safety of players is paramount. The best way to play the game safely is to have the correct techniques at the points of contact. Consequently we need all these parents to have the appropriate qualifications to ensure the youngsters are learning these techniques, and are playing the game according to the spirit and ethos of the game.

Off the pitch we have many more people enjoying pre and post match hospitality in the clubhouse. They have enjoyed a refurbished and repainted clubhouse, and in latter weeks an outside paved seating area, as well as improved changing a showering facilities.

As you will remember we had an extremely wet winter and this badly affected our pitches, rendering many of them unplayable for a number of weeks. On the other side of the coin we have had lengthy spells with very little rain rendering the pitches like concrete, also not ideal. So climate change does appear to be with us and we need to improve both the drainage of our pitches and their irrigation all of which, unfortunately, comes with a hefty price tag.

As we go into the coming season your management team is trying to improve the quality of the experience of the club for all members. One of the improvements we are looking to make is in the administration of membership. As I write this we are ordering and shortly a new membership system which will offer many significant improvements to your experience of the club.

I am attaching a document which our Commercial Director, Richie Gledson, who is the principal architect of the new system, has prepared. It is quite a lengthy document but it provides all the details of the new membership system and a rationale behind many of the changes. Click Here to view this document or click the link at the foot of this page.

The principal benefits of the system will be: (see page 6 of the document for details)
1. Its ease of use. Too many people complain about difficulties experienced with the current system
2. Discounts in the clubhouse. Your new membership card will enable you to get discounted drinks at the bar.
3. Discounts on certain product purchases, including sports kit and vitamin and protein supplements.
4. Discounts at local retailers. We have already signed up a number of local retailers and sports clubs, who are offering members very attractive deals.
There is another big change to membership we are introducing for this year, which relates to parents of Mini-Junior players. See the explanation and rationale on page 7 of the document.

There is going to be an increase in the Membership fee for the forthcoming year, and for most people the membership fee will be £160. We appreciate this is a significant increase over last year, but we are trying to correct the fact that our fees have been very low in previous years, especially for a club of our size and position, and the costs we incur to provide such playing facilities. But we expect that for most people the new member benefits will more than offset the fee increase.

I very much hope the changes to the club’s membership are to your liking and that you will take out membership again this year and continue to enjoy the rugby and conviviality which our club strives to provide.

Very best wishes
Paul Williams