News From The Chair......Oct 24

Over the past few weeks, I have been abroad visiting my son and family in California and whilst it has been lovely to spend time with them, we have also been anxious for relatives holidaying in Florida. I return with the Vees  having had  a great  summer across all aspects at the club. 

With the approved support from the RWC 25 Social Grant, we have seen fantastic upgrades to the social facilities at the clubhouse, and our pitches are also much improved following a grant from the Football Foundation. We have also seen a number of electrical improvements led by Dean David.  

Having almost finished the RWC 25 Social Project, for which the club received 50% of the funding, at £10,000 from the RFU, the final part of this is to source some new chairs as we look to refresh the internal furnishings for social occasions. 

Lindsay Digweed, who led the RWC 25 Social Project team is now working on phase 2 of our facility enhancements, looking to create a sheltered area at the changing room end of the club. This is to include a BBQ area and seating, leading on to the rear car park in preparation for phase 3, for which we have received sponsorship from a senior member of the club to develop match recovery facilities.  We are in discussion with local companies and are hopeful to be able to negotiate significant discounts on materials and much work is being done for free. We may, however, need some volunteers as the project progresses and we are also aiming to host some fundraising social evenings to help cover some of the costs. 

Our upgrade to 3 phase electricity is imminent and will include improvement to outside lighting, including the carpark. The cost of this is expected to be around £11,000.

Grants continue to be available and local companies are often willing to support grassroot clubs, so if any members have any possible contacts or ideas for such funding, please let the committee know. I would also like to extend my sincere thanks to everyone who has been involved and continues to be involved in all of the projects aimed at growing Vees for the future from a rugby, social and community aspect. 

We are now running a range of additional rugby activities to our weekend squads. Rugby Tots is run from the club on a Saturday morning by Laura-Jo Pearce, who is also Head of the Womens Game Development for Herts RFU. Mini Warriors are now running their own touch rugby session on a Friday night for girls in Yrs3-6 between 6-7pm, and the Senior Warriors continue to grow on a Wednesday evening. The committee have approved some further finance to help support the increasing Warriors division, which is the fastest growing area of the club this year. 

The Warriors are adding to the strength of the club which now boasts teams across all age groups, and in some cases 2-3 teams, leading all the way up to the Senior Mens 1st, 2nd and Vets teams.  

The 1st XV had a tough start to the season in a new league, but it is great to see that they won last Saturday against Tabard away. They have been entered into the Papa John’s Cup later this season and we will look to share the fixtures when released in the new year. Please note that Vice President’s day is likely to fall during this competition, depending on the draw. 

The 2nd XV team has not lost yet and are playing really well, winning 5 from 5 at time of writing with a try bonus point in each game. 

The Vets have played one game this season, drawing against local rivals 22-22 in a fun day at the club as all 3 Senior Men’s teams turned out at home. 

We are hoping to run one of the county junior or mini age group festival days at the end of season 2025-26. Lots of volunteers will be needed so planning for this is starting now.

The dedication and enthusiasm of our coaches, managers, first aiders, finance team, merchandise team, bar and cleaning staff, and ever increasing RFU and general admin managers is fantastic, all contributing to the positive atmosphere in the club. Thank goodness for Volunteers and the support of all parents and carers.

At the end of last season, Herts RFU and the RFU asked for those who have made a big contribution to be put forward for the Honda Volunteer Awards 2024.

Congratulations to Lindsay Digweed, Dean David and Ross Graham on receiving these awards. Others were put forward for these annual awards but were unsuccessful on this occasion. Some had already received them in previous years. Presentation Evening date at the club TBA, together with some presentations for work done around the club in the summer.

Please note, to all interested, there will be The Christmas League Lunch on Saturday 14th of December.  Details will be shared at the start of November.

Once again, we are working with Christmas Treeasy to get Christmas Trees delivered (and collected ) to your front door. Details are on the website and the club will get a commission for every sale so please support if you can.

Many Thanks to all who have contributed in any way to our great and positive start to the season

Regards,

Ian ‘Shanks’ Graham

Chair