Essex Champions. Last weekend saw the finals of the Essex Waterfall Cup take place and Rochford U16’s beat Thurrock 19-5 to become Essex Champions, The U15’s beat Wanstead 24-10 to also become Essex Champions and the U14’s lost to Canvey 22-17 with Canvey scoring a last minute try to secure the win. The U13’s final was a victim of the wet weather. Huge congratulations to all the youth teams, rounding off another successful season of youth rugby at Rochford.

I am told that the mini’s tour to Harwich was a great success and enjoyed by all and planning has already begun for next seasons tour and 291 Rochford Hundred members went up the Spurs stadium last weekend for the ‘Sarries v ‘Quins game and Sean Maitland had our club badge on his Sarries shirt!

As most of you know our 1st XV men’s team have a massive injury list which is hampering our attempts to secure our position in National League Two East. Results early this year didn’t go our way with losses away at Sevenoaks and at home to North Walsham, both games we targeted as possible wins. If we had won both, we might well have been safe, but we did not so we are not safe, far from it. Then we got a rugby lesson from Barnes. Next up was Canterbury at home, another game we thought we could win, but Canterbury’s form since Christmas suggested otherwise. However, a terrific performance from all the players, starters, and finishers, saw us come out on top. Further points have been picked up with a draw against Old Albanians and bonus points against Dorking and most recently away to Guernsey. All of these points are invaluable, and we currently sit two points above North Walsham with just three matches to go.

Our aim is of course to remain a National 2 side, and it must be mentioned, the home support and noise level generated at the recent home games was great and you could tell how much the players appreciated by their reactions at the end of the games, so your support over the next few weeks is vital.

Those remaining two home games are on 1st April vs Henley Hawks and 22nd April vs Tonbridge Juddians. Our last away game will be on 15th April at North Walsham. You should have seen the message about subsidised coach travel to the Walsham game, as we need as much support as we can get to this game, but just in case you have not the Club will subsidize a 50-seater coach with a toilet to take supporters to the game.

All we ask from you is to pay £10 each for the trip. Leaving time to be confirmed but will be around 11am I guess for a 3pm kick off, so you get time to have a drink etc before kick-off. To reserve your seat on the coach please contact Alan on HOSPITALITY@ROCHFORDRUGBY.COM by Wednesday 12th April.

On Monday 13th March I met with some Honorary Life Members, Honorary Vice Presidents and Vice Presidents who came along to an open forum meeting to discuss with me and others how we can raise more sponsorship going forward to support the club as a whole and the 1st team as it is becoming increasingly more difficult to obtain sponsorship right now.

Some of the items, but not restricted to, that we discussed and sought their opinions, input, and assistance on to take our club forward were:

Club Development off the field
Club Development on the field
Commercial ideas and opportunities
Sponsorship ideas and opportunities
Networking ideas and opportunities
Local community ideas

Being a National Two side was hard work to establish but is even harder to maintain. It is a level I believe we should try to maintain, giving all our Youth and Minis players an opportunity to play a really high level of rugby, and good standard of rugby, at their local club, but we really need to grow the commercial and community side of the club if we are to succeed in this.

Visiting many other National League clubs over the past couple of seasons, it’s very clear that this is an area that we need to focus on, but I can’t do this on my own.

We have taken that feedback and I would now like to meet all of our members and hear what the wider and biggest part of the club you have for ideas and your input.

This is NOT asking you for your money, just ideas and help in how we can attract additional sponsorship, increase our network and build the clubs position in the community.

Therefore, we will hold a club wide open forum meeting on Monday 24th April at the clubhouse from 7.30pm. Please try and attend as we would like to hear what suggestions and ideas you have.

We are holding a club Quiz Night on Friday 21st April. £10 per person, which includes a Pie/Pasty and Chips. Can you get a table of 8 together? We will be starting the quiz at 19:30 and the clubhouse will be open from 19:00

As the season draws to a close, I need you all to start thinking about if you wish to nominate anyone for the Club Person of the Year Award. This is our most prestigious award we present at our End of Season Awards Dinner. If you would like to nominate someone from our club for this award please send me an email to CHAIRMAN@ROCHFORDRUGBY.COM, giving me your name, the name of the person you are nominating and why you are nominating them. A small judging panel will view all nominations and decide upon a winner. Last year we had many nominations, which was just great, and we would like several nominations again this year please. All nominees will receive some recognition for their work at the End of Season Awards Dinner, which this year is being held on Friday 19th May, and our guest speaker is ex ‘Quins and England Captain, Chris Robshaw. The Awards Dinner is an open event, so all adult club members are invited to attend, tickets cost £30 per person. If you would like to reserve a seat, please contact HOSPITALITY@ROCHFORDRUGBY.COM.

The following Thursday 24th May, commencing at 7pm is our AGM. As you should know by now, I am looking to stand down as your chairman, so we will have a vacancy to fill. Several other people are also standing down from the Executive Committee and we always welcome ‘new blood’ onto the Executive Committee.

A list of all posts to be elected at the AGM will be posted on the club noticeboard at the end of April/beginning of May and all nominees will need a club member to propose them and one to second them. If you wish to step forward and help run the club and you find someone else has already been nominated, don’t worry, still put your name forward and we can have an election. Now is the time to start thinking about either persuading someone to step up or deciding yourself that you would like to help run the club in some way.

Now we have changed our membership categories all members can now vote and as always you have a voice, so please come along, and help us make decisions to carry us through the next season. I will be publishing the agenda for the meeting in late April/early May and putting up a notice in the clubhouse. I will also be putting up a list of positions we need to possibly take a vote on. I will put up the list around 1st May and you have until 8pm on 10th May to get your nominations in, as after that date, 14 days before the AGM, we can’t accept any other nominations. The same applies to any motions anyone wishes to place on the agenda, these will also need to be sent in by the same deadline as for nominations. Please send any motions to SECRETARY@ROCHFORDRUGBY.COM

We ran a campaign before Christmas to attract as many donations as we could to offset the capital costs of installing solar panels. I also managed to obtain a grant towards the costs of installation, and I am pleased to say that most of the installation of the solar panels has been undertaken. We now await the arrival of the invertor to finish the job but that will not arrive until sometime in April at the earliest.

Now we have the solar panels on the roof we need to protect them as best we can. This will mean finding some more money to finish off the security fencing at the back of the clubhouse. When we installed the fencing along the ditch and around the car park, we could not afford to carry on behind the clubhouse up to the garage. Kids have now formed a footpath on the other side of the stream and built some bridges to cross the stream to get onto our ground. They are causing some minor criminal damage and leaving rather a lot of broken bottles around. So, the sooner we can install the security fencing the better.

The new changing room will be complete this month except for the changing booths which will be installed during April and May, so it is unlikely it will be ready for use this season.

Best wishes.
Ray