When I looked at the date, 9th September, I realised that it is 15 years, yes 15 years, to the day that I started writing this here blog. Mrs Bleater and I had just landed in New Zealand for the 2011 World Cup and as newly elected Chair of CRFC I promised I would write a blog about the trip. I can’t believe it has been going pretty much continuously ever since.

Anyway, moving on……

That rain yesterday was most welcome. However, having driven around parts of the county yesterday during the worst of it, it was painfully obvious that a significant amount of the stuff that fell from the sky simply ran off into the sewers. The ground remains stubbornly hard.

Where did we go? Mrs Bleater and I, along with Clarky our wonderful President, represented CRFC at Philip ‘Liberty’ Bell’s funeral. This was an invite only affair hence the lack of advertising. Those who who were present had been asked to abide by a social media embargo, which of course we were happy to comply with. The service was still very well attended with Phil’s limited family, and many members of H&W RFC present.

H&W RFC have planned a memorial event at Cross-in-Hand on September 19th for those who weren’t able to make yesterday. This clashes with our own fun day at Steel Cross but I’m sure a number of you might want to combine the two. The H&W event is from 12 noon.

As an aside it was clear that Philip was intrinsic to the good operation of H&W, he will be sorely missed. It made me realise how blessed we are with our fantastic volunteers across the board, each doing whatever is required to keep our great club ship shape and Bristol fashion, and each age group running smoothly.

Looking ahead to the weekend, you already know about the 4th and final test between South Africa and New Zealand. The women’s WXV kicks off with England v Australia, Scotland v Canada and France v New Zealand. The Premiership Cup continues, as do the Top 14, and the National Leagues.

In other news, I hope no-one was caught up in the air traffic control melt down yesterday, and will be impacted today as aircraft are out of position. Looking at Flightradar24 the skies over the South East appear to be back to normal. If you are interested the transatlantic stuff, that is the bigger airplanes, will be filling the skies for the next few hours.

OK, back tomorrow before an extended break, details of which will follow in due course.

Tuesday 8th Sept: 08:40

It hasn’t taken long for us Brits to start whingeing about the weather. Sadly, I’m one of them. Yesterday’s plans were scuppered by the early morning drizzle, and whilst today’s plans will go ahead I anticipate I will get soaked. The bottom line however is we need the rain, and lots of it. Two or three rainy days will not replenish the reservoirs or aquifers.

Very little of substance in the rugby pages but a couple of things did catch my eye.

Courtney Lawes says players should remain eligible for England if they ply their trade overseas. If he had said players should remain eligible for Wales then I would support his view. Wales simply does not have the talent pool England does. I think England are right to keep the policy, especially as playing for England is very lucrative.

There was a piece on the BBC website about the rise of Camborne RFC and their inaugural win in National One against Leeds Tykes. This caught my eye because of the ridiculous travel involved. Close to 7 hours. The costs must be horrendous when you add in the overnight accommodation. The article talks about the youngsters being bloodied at this level, which is great. I’m pretty sure however, they will quickly get hacked off with the travel, unless of course they are being handsomely remunerated, which heaps significant cost onto the club.

As you would expect with the Champions League kicking off tonight, football dominates the sports pages. Oh the heady days when Leicester City had a season in that auspicious tournament. Let’s move on.

As I have to get ready to go out I’ll close it there……

But not before asking the question: ‘are we paying the French to safely escort illegal migrants into British waters, or are we paying them to prevent channel crossings?’. It seems the French are laughing at our stupidity and taking the money with impunity. It is a joke.

The Government has got to wake up to the increasingly irate electorate on this issue.

Well done King Charles. Putting the publicity hungry, self-centred Sussexes in their place.

Ok, back tomorrow, albeit only with a brief missive. I’m assisting The Bard at the club with pitch preparation…… weather dependent of course.