As many of you know the Friday Club is a bunch of old, and maybe not so old guys who meet at the club every Friday and keep the place, clubhouse and grounds, in the condition members would expect of a great rugby club. They recently completed the redecoration of the clubhouse. Their activities not only enhance the facilities they save the club a considerable amount of money. Tens of thousands of pounds to be sure. Equally important is the regular gathering is good for their physical and mental wellbeing.

There are two social gatherings per year. The Christmas lunch, and the pre-season BBQ. The latter is an opportunity for the blokes to get together with their ‘plus ones’, in most cases that is their senior managers, to enjoy a BBQ style lunch with plenty of drink and banter to boot. In a bizarre twist this year, the weather was searingly hot, and sitting outside was positively uncomfortable. Most opted to enjoy Jacqui’s excellent food in the relative comfort of inside, as the photos testify.

Thanks go to Chris Morgan for organising, and applause too for his speech delivered in his usual understated but humorous way. He most importantly highlighted the amazing work Jacqui, Louise and Ryan do for the club as a whole, and each Friday for the old boys. Unsurprisingly that was the loudest cheer of the day.

It was a pleasure to include a number of guests, including the club’s DoR Paul Gray, Steve Edwards, who has sourced a lot of the materials for the redecoration, Peter Johnstone, our finance guru for signing off the funding of the maintenance projects. Thanks also go to the mini section and Kate Smith. They diverted some of their funds to the day’s proceedings, which was promptly put back into the club by way of the bar!!!

A splendid few hours in great company.

The season has been delayed and the grounds will take considerable time to recover. Rest assured that the club’s Friday Club will be ready for action as soon as this unrelenting hot weather breaks.