Chairman's Report 2009 - 2010
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- Last Updated on Thursday, 15 September 2011 11:56
As incoming Chairman at the last AGM, the year ahead seemed a rather daunting prospect but with the help and support of the Committee and all involved at Holt RFC I believe the club has run smoothly and with some success on the field.
Coaches Ed Steed and Penny Chapman made a brave move to introduce senior training on a twice weekly basis on Tuesday and Thursday evenings and under their expert guidance this paid dividends in fitness and skills. The first XV fielded several young players from the start of the season under the captaincy of Neil Sturman and later Ashley Woods, when injury prevented Neil from playing, and managed to finish 3rd in Eastern Counties League One, our highest finish for several years. As holder of the Norfolk Junior Cup we scored 22 tries in 3 matches and retained the trophy with a 69-16 victory over Thetford in the final.
Unfortunately, due to the unusually severe winter and consequent backlog of fixtures, we were unable to play the Cubitt Maule Trophy and the Banham Cup, both of which will be competed for in the coming season.
The Owls, under the leadership of Paul Uglow, had a difficult season due to lack of playing numbers caused by several retirements and younger players going up to the first team. Norfolk Merit Table One is a tough league but they managed to maintain their league status finishing 9th out of 11 teams.
The third XV were captained by Phil Carter who had better player availability with a mixture of youth and experience and finished 7th out of 11 sides in Norfolk Merit Table Two.
Youth rugby at Holt mirrors the countywide trend of shortage of players and this is a problem which needs to be addressed to ensure a continued supply of young players for future senior sides. This said, we still managed to field teams in U13, U14, U15 and U16s and our first ever youth festival is scheduled for 21st November.
Our minis section continues to thrive with every age group enjoying some success at one or more of the various festivals throughout the season, with the U11s competing in the Landrover cup and finishing 5th out of 22 London based teams. The reputation of our own Kingswood Festivals continues to grow with both events this year attracting a huge number of players and supporters from outside the county and running without a hitch thanks to the impeccable organisational skills of Sean Chapman.
I would like to thank all those involved with minis and youth from coaches to kitchen staff for their continued dedication to producing future players for Holt Rugby Club and a special mention must go to Ben Jones who is retiring after four years at the helm of the minis section which has flourished under his leadership. Good luck to Chris Spinks who takes over from Ben.
Sponsorship continues to provide a major source of revenue for the club and we are grateful to all companies who kindly supportus in various ways including pitchside boards, team kit and matchday lunches, and in particular the club's main sponsor, Mike Baker of Bakers and Larners of Holt.
An enjoyable annual dinner was held at Pinewood again this year and thanks must go to John Ross for his usual organisation of this function. For the first time an auction of rugby memorabilia was held to raise money for club funds and this was a great success. Eight pre-match lunches were organised by Archie Mitchell and John Wykes and we are grateful for their hard work over the pastfew years. The lunches were as always well attended although we found that you cannot please all of the people all of the time which led to a change of caterers midway through the season. Thanks to Rob and Sue Eustace for helping us out in our hour of need.
Congratulations go to George Cushing on becoming President of Norfolk RFU for 2010-11 and to Alan Gibbs on his re-election asPresident of the Norfolk Referees Society. We wish them good luck in these offices in the year ahead.
As we look forward to the forthcoming season, areas which I feel need our particular attention are the bar, the club shop and the second XV and I hope we can all continue to work together to ensure the long term success of the club both on and off the field.
Richard Seaman
Chairman
