Minety RFC News Letter
Now that nearly all club news is carried here, on the web site, there has been no need for a major newsletter for some time but with Dave Peirce coming to the end of his time as Club Chairman, he has put together some thoughts on the club and its future.
Hi All,
I hope you are well?
I thought it was time for another club update, but as I’ve said before our website is kept bang up to date with all our playing related & Social club news hence there not being a need for my old newsletters, which I’m sure you’re all relieved about!
As you have know doubt seen on the club webpage (http://www.minetyrfc.com) we are having a bit of a mixed season, with the the weather causing considerable fixture related problems. It’s been quite tough over the last few months to fulfil all our home fixtures due to the poor pitch conditions, and at one point we had to hire Wootton Bassett’s facilities, which is not ideal for a small club such as ours. The conditions have affected other clubs too with teams such as Avonvale in Bath having to cancel their home fixture against us twice!
It is key that we begin to invest in our facilities to ensure the survival of the club, and as our players are seeing the facilities of some of our close neighbours I’m sure they’re thinking “why am I playing at Minety in this ankle deep mud every week”? For us older guys it was the mud, blood & snot that kept us going, and gave us an advantage over teams with better facilities, but things have changed, and the players want more for their annual subscriptions.
I would like to put a request out for volunteers to assist the club with fund raising for the future. Ideally it would be great to see a fund raising officer leading a sub committee of dedicated people looking to raise money & Minety RFC’s profile. There are options for funding out there, but we need the skills of the people that have been involved with the club (past & present) to help us tap into these funds.
As most of you know I am stepping down from the Chair position at the end of this season, & Kenny Wright (currently Vice Chair) will be taking over from me, unless anyone else puts their name forward that is, in which case it will go to a vote at the AGM (date TBC). It would be fantastic if we could continue to move the club forward, & compete with our local rivals, not just on the pitch, but with our facilities too.
Priorities (in no particular order) to move the club forward in my opinion are as follows:
1) Investment in our pitches, which will potentially need a large sum spent on them, unless we can get some local companies to assist. The pitches are unplayable when we get the type of weather we have encountered recently, and to make these fit to play all season round is a mammoth, & expensive task. Creating a well lit training area is also key, & ideally an all weather surface would be even better. A fully floodlit pitch would be great, & would mean we could play evening matches, and even rent the facilities out. I may have some unrealistic dreams, but I think these type of things are key for the survival of the club, & I can’t emphasise that enough.
2) Player recruitment & retention. This goes hand in glove with number 1 above, as without the pitch improvements players will not want to stay at Minety. We also need to make new players more welcome, as was the case in the old days. Invite them to join in with functions, buy them a beer, & for want of a better phrase make them feel loved, and make them believe that it doesn’t get any better than Minety RFC.
3) New grounds equipment such as mower/s, rollers etc (currently looking at some grants for help with some of this).
4) New safe outbuildings to store grounds equipment etc.
5) Investment in the areas leading to the pitches, pitch side barriers, walkways & disabled access etc.
6) Improve clubhouse facilities, even though the MPFA have been working hard towards this over the last couple of years, there is still some room for improvement. Our own purpose made clubhouse is still a dream of mine!
7) Improve prematch facilities in terms of ensuring the bar is open early & well staffed for spectators, and refreshments such as tea, coffee & hot food/rolls/sandwiches are available to purchase, which is the norm in a lot of our competitors facilities, and will obviously increase revenue for both the Rugby Club, & the MPFA.
8) Improve post match facilities in terms of a well staffed bar (consider paying some bar staff maybe), and also refreshments as in number 7 above. Bring back the good old sing songs.
This is a bit of a cry for help I’m afraid to keep your beloved MRFC afloat/alive! Many of you have, and still continue to use and enjoy the club facilities, but you also know that it’s an ongoing battle to keep the club moving forward, so any help will be much appreciated. If you are interested in taking on a role, or helping out in anyway please send me an email (cc Kenny) with your preferred position/function, and we’ll look to move this forward, many thanks.
We have a couple of key socials coming up too, which are as follows:
12th May, 7’s tournament, which will be fantastic this year, especially as we are being visited by the RAF Falcons Parachute Display Team. See the club website for full details. Please invite friends and family, spread the word. If you want to enter a team contact Jack Ward wardyjnr8@hotmail.com, If you would like to volunteer to help set up the day before, or help on the day, or help the following day to clear up please let Jack & I know, any help would be much appreciated, thanks. Please see attached poster for this event, and please feel free to print off, and place in your local schools, pubs, Rugby Clubs etc, thanks.
1st June, Club dinner. Please contact Andy Somers (andy@greenandpurple.co.uk), and/or Kenny Wright (Ken@Wright9054.Freeserve.Co.UK) to reserve your place. I have attached a club direct debit form, which has the club bank details on, so please feel free to pay for the dinner in advance, as this will make it much easier for the organisers on the night. Expected price is £40, but I will confirm asap. Many thanks.AGM (date TBC), your chance to come along and have your say, and find out what is planned for next season. Not to be missed if you’re a true Minety stalwart.
Thank you for taking the time to read this, and I look forward to catching up with you all soon.
All the best,
Dave Peirce
April 2018
Minety RFC Newsletter Number 5 (November 2016) is available here. Click to load the pdf file.
Minety RFC Newsletter Number 4 (October 2016) is available here. Click to load the pdf file.
Minety RFC Newsletter Number 3.
Dave Peirce is now experimenting with graphics and text, so issue Number 3 is available below. Simply click on one of the four pages to read the text in full size.
Page 1 Page 2 Page 3 Page 4A pdf file of the newsletter is available – click here.
MINETY RFC NEWS LETTER. 16th March 2016 Apologies for the duplication of some of the details below, but best to keep you informed. IMPORTANT; ALL RAFFLE TICKETS/STUBS MUST BE RETURNED TO ANDY EDWARDS THIS SATURDAY 19TH MARCH, MENTIONED AGAIN BELOW, THANKS Rob Bugden As I’m sure you are all aware by now one of our players was seriously injured in a parachute accident in America. Although Rob is seriously ill there have been some significant signs of improvement, including the fact that he has now been taken off the ventilator permanently, which is great news and a big step in the right direction. Updates are available on www.caringbridge.org and this is the best place to leave any comments and keep track of Robs progress. It is also possible to view a link via this page which gives a calendar for any proposed visits to Rob now he’s back in the UK. Mark down your preferred date and time and leave your mobile number so it is possible to contact you should the time you have chosen turn out to be inconvenient in anyway. Thanks. I hope to arrange for some of us to visit him in Birmingham and maybe even set up Rota of sorts, so a few of us can go up each weekend for as long as possible, let me know if you would like to come along, thanks again. Planning a visit within the next fortnight. I feel very strongly that we should support Rob in his recovery, as he has been a great asset to MRFC this season. He’s new to the club, but has clearly made a difference. We will be looking to do some fund raisers for Rob throughout the season, so please watch this space. I am currently doing a collection for Rob, so if you would like to contribute please catch me at the club or give it to any committee member to pass onto me, many thanks. On the field We have had some major pitch problems this season and a few games have had to be postponed due to the risk of drowning, seriously they are probably the worst I’ve ever seen them since I joined the club in 1979!!! Please always check the website and Face book before you come over the club to support incase the match has been postponed or relocated. 1st team update; We have unfortunately lost our last four fixtures, 10 v 5 to Trowbridge on the 13th Feb, 32 v 0 on Saturday (20th Feb) to Wootton Bassett, a close fought battle with Melksham where we went down 20 v 14 and a lesson in how to play rugby by Corsham where we were beaten 60 v 5!!! This currently leaves us in 5th place in the league. Heads up guys, you’re doing us all proud and I’m sure you’ll return to winning ways shortly. 2nd team update; Currently sit in 7th place in the D&W division 3 North. Match reports on the above fixtures and other news can be found on our website. If you’re unable to see the match on a Saturday we show the 1st team and some 2nd team matches on DVD at the club on Tuesdays after training, so please feel free to join us for the viewing. Some DVD’s are also available for purchase at £5 each, the proceeds of which go to the club tour fund, so a worthwhile expenditure (especially if you’re planning to tour). Training Although training seems to be going really well we could still do with more players turning up regularly, as it makes the coaches job much easier. Bear in mind he gives up his time every Tuesday & Saturday to coach and help you all improve and make sure we have the best squad available for both teams, but he needs your help too. I know it’s cold, muddy, wet, windy and dark, but we are Rugby players (except Jack, he’s still confused), no excuses. Come on lads you know it makes sense, help the coach to help you! You let your team mates down when you don’t attend training. Friendly Fixture I have been contacted by a member of the Defence Academy in Shrivenham asking if we would like to play a friendly against them in April. Possibly an evening match under floodlights, but TBC. I have requested an earlier date, as it may be a good opportunity to have a full training session/match at their place under lights whilst our pitches try to recover. Just a thought? I will discuss this with the captains at my 1st opportunity, but if this is something you would be interested in please drop me a mail to give me an idea of numbers. I have played at the academy in the past and they used to have a great set up, so I would imagine it’s still the same. Somewhere different and not too far away. Sponsorship Work ongoing, but still hoping for volunteers to help with this, or even better, offers! Please let us know if you have any suggestions/ideas on who we could approach for further sponsorship talks, thanks. We’re also looking into the possibility of applying for grants (WIP) from certain companies/organizations to help us with pitch maintenance etc, but its early days, so watch this space. Some registration paperwork is due for completion shortly, which will give us a unique reference number and enable us to enter proposals for specific (yet to be defined) projects. E.g., grounds and club house maintenance etc. My personal views on this are that its crucial we put something in place asap, as our pitches are becoming more unplayable by the week with all this constant rain and bad weather. Scaffold platforms We have recently received a very kind donation to the club in terms of a scaffold tower for filming the matches. This was kindly donated by Nurdens of Malmesbury, which we intend to erect between the top two pitches, so a massive thankyou to Andrew Nurden for this, it is much appreciated. We have also acquired some other scaffolding, which we propose to erect on the bottom pitch once the surface has dried out, it may sink at the moment!!! Thanks to Graham Cooke and Craig Smith for the their assistance in acquiring this scaffolding. If there are any scaffolders amongst you that would like to give us a hand putting this up it would be much appreciated, many thanks. Social Raffle Tickets; Please be aware that if you have taken raffle tickets to sell on behalf of the club that the proceeds from these and any unsold tickets should be returned to Andy Edwards ASAP. If Andy is not available please feel free to give cash and stubs or any unsold tickets to myself or any other committee member, thanks. Please note that these generate a reasonable income for Minety RFC, so please use your best selling techniques to sell as many as you can, the salesman amongst you should excel. Many thanks. All proceeds, stubs or unsold tickets should be returned no later than 19th March. Quiz Night; Andy Somers has kindly agreed to organize a quiz night, date TBC, so watch this space. Final match of the season; 23rd April against run away league leaders Coombe Down. This is a home match and we’re looking to hold a fancy dress party after the game, which is open to all, VP’s, friends of MRFC, players & family. Please do your best to attend and support your beloved MRFC. If enough interest from my fellow old farts we may look to do a pre-match BBQ or something similar. If you intend to join us for this day can you please respond to this email , so we have an idea of numbers? Meet at the club for pre-match drinks at midday. Come and join us, you know it makes sense!!!! Minety RFC 7’s confirmed for May 7th 2016, please contact Jack ward (wardyjnr8@hotmail.com) if you have any queries or know of any teams that wish to partake, or get involved in sponsorship. Tour; CANCELLED!!!! Due to lack of response and no deposits being made we’ve had to cancel tour I’m afraid. As stated in all my newsletters we need to respond to these event requests, no excuses for not being informed, as everything is in the newsletters, on Face book and other forms of social media. Disappointing, but we are considering looking to do a preseason tour, so if you would be interested in this please let the social committee know asap, many thanks. The Dinner is scheduled for the Friday 3rd June, as we have a fairly full social calendar in April & May and thought it best to split some of the costs up. As take up on this has been very slow we have had to make a decision and we will now be holding a small event in the clubhouse with a maximum of 80 people. If you would like to attend you need to pay in full to reserve your place, and it will be 1st come 1st served. Cost will be £35 per head. As I’ve said in previous newsletters and with my highlighted sentence below you have to respond to these requests, you have to help us to help you. A quick call, a visit to the club, confirmation via social media, email etc. it’s really easy to communicate these days. Sorry for the rant, but it’s very frustrating for the social committee when they are putting in a load of effort to make the club a great place to be, and they don’t get any support!!! We really need you to respond to these requests, as its very difficult to organize events without an idea of numbers.!!!!! General If you know of any players past or present (or friends) that are not receiving this news letter and would like to do so please mail me their email address and I’ll ensure they are added to the circulation list, many thanks. Anyway I think I’ve covered most things, but feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or queries relating to the club and I’ll do all I can to help. All club officials are on our website, (address above) so if you’re query is more specific to a certain subject you may wish to contact the relevant person 1st. Please also contact me if you would like to add anything to the next news letter. I suppose player profiles could be next? Take care all, and let’s keep the momentum up both on and off the field. All the best, Dave Peirce Minety RFC Chairman MINETY RFC NEWS LETTER – 22nd February 2016 Circulation = 113. Hi all, Apologies for the duplication of some of the details below, but best to keep you informed. Rob Bugden As I’m sure you are all aware by now one of our players was seriously injured in a parachute accident in America. Although Rob is seriously ill there have been some significant signs of improvement, so fingers tightly crossed that this continues. Updates are available on www.caringbridge.org and this is the best place to leave any comments and keep track of Robs progress. It is also possible to view a link via this page which gives a calendar for any proposed visits to Rob now he’s back in the UK. Mark down your preferred date and time and leave your mobile number so it is possible to contact you should the time you have chosen turn out to be inconvenient in anyway. Thanks. I hope to arrange for some of us to visit him in Birmingham and maybe even set up Rota of sorts, so a few of us can go up each weekend for as long as possible, let me know if you would like to come along, thanks again. I have heard that they may look to move him to Stoke Mandeville Hospital at some point, so this could make visiting much easier. I feel very strongly that we should support Rob in his recovery, as he has been a great asset to MRFC this season. He’s new to the club, but has clearly made a difference. We will be looking to do some fund raisers for Rob throughout the season, so please watch this space. I am currently doing a collection for Rob, so if you would like to contribute please catch me at the club or give it to any committee member to pass onto me, many thanks. On the field We have had some major pitch problems this season and a few games have had to be postponed due to the risk of drowning, seriously they are probably the worst I’ve ever seen them since I joined the club in 1979!!! Please always check the website and Face book before you come over the club to support incase the match has been postponed or relocated. 1st team update; We have unfortunately lost our last two fixtures, 10 v 5 to Trowbridge on the 13th Feb and 32 v 0 on Saturday (20th Feb) to Wootton Bassett. This currently leaves us in 4th place in the league. Heads up guys, you’re doing us all proud and I’m sure you’ll return to winning ways shortly. 2nd team update; Currently sit in 7th place in the D&W division 3 North. After an early morning pitch inspection by myself and a few others, including a referee, we deemed one of our pitches playable for this past Saturday (20th Feb), but from around 11am the rain started to fall again!!! The referee allowed the match to start , but by half time had determined the pitch unplayable again, so the game was abandoned and has to be replayed. We really are not having any luck with the weather this season!!!! Match reports on the above fixtures and other news can be found on our website at http://www.minetyrfc.com If you’re unable to see the match on a Saturday we show the 1st team and some 2nd team matches on DVD at the club on Tuesdays after training, so please feel free to join us for the viewing. Some DVD’s are also available for purchase at £5 each, the proceeds of which go to the club tour fund, so a worthwhile expenditure (especially if you’re planning to tour). Training Although training seems to be going really well we could still do with more players turning up regularly, as it makes the coaches job much easier. Bear in mind he gives up his time every Tuesday & Saturday to coach and help you all improve and make sure we have the best squad available for both teams, but he needs your help too. I know it’s cold, muddy, wet, windy and dark, but we are Rugby players (except Jack, he’s still confused), no excuses. Come on lads you know it makes sense, help the coach to help you! You let your team mates down when you don’t attend training. We have had to make alternative arrangements of late due to the poor pitch conditions and have moved training to either the activity zone at Malmesbury Leisure Center or Cricklade Sports Centre, please check with the coach and captains on arrangements for training prior to turning up at the club or the Leisure Center. Training is however scheduled for at the club this Tuesday 23rd Feb. Friendly Fixture I have been contacted by a member of the Defence Academy in Shrivenham asking if we would like to play a friendly against them in April. Possibly an evening match under floodlights, but TBC. I have requested an earlier date, as it may be a good opportunity to have a full training session/match at their place under lights whilst our pitches try to recover. Just a thought? I will discuss this with the captains at my 1st opportunity, but if this is something you would be interested in please drop me a mail to give me an idea of numbers. I have played at the academy in the past and they used to have a great set up, so I would imagine it’s still the same. Somewhere different and not too far away. Membership!!!! A Negative I’m afraid: We still have some membership payments outstanding and we’re halfway through the season, which unless you pay in full will mean you have potentially had half a season for free. If you haven’t paid can you please do so asap. We don’t want to name and shame! It’s also not fair for those that have paid, when the non payees are receiving the same benefits. After all this entitles you to club benefits such as free food after matches, sports therapy, international ticket applications, admission to the club house (yes you should be a paid member to enter the club), discounted training tops, and hopefully other benefits to follow. We will be collecting the following fees from unpaid players: £5 per therapy session. £5 match fees, which can be back dated to the beginning of the season. £30 for training tops (as opposed to £10 for members). I appreciate that this maybe an oversight in some cases, and I’m sure no one deliberately avoids payment, but the club needs subscriptions to function and provide the benefits many of you are already receiving/using. If anyone is having any difficulties making payments please come and speak to one of the committee, we are here to help. Many thanks. Note. You don’t need to be a player to be a member, you can make a contribution to the club at any time. You’ll then be entitled to the same benefits as the players. Minimum contribution as a non player is £48 per season, but higher donations are gratefully received. It all helps out with the running costs of your beloved MRFC. VP’s/friends of Minety dig deep, many thanks. Sponsorship Work ongoing, but still hoping for volunteers to help with this, or even better, offers! Please let us know if you have any suggestions/ideas on who we could approach for further sponsorship talks, thanks. We’re also looking into the possibility of applying for grants (WIP) from certain companies/organizations to help us with pitch maintenance etc, but its early days, so watch this space. Some registration paperwork is due for completion shortly, which will give us a unique reference number and enable us to enter proposals for specific (yet to be defined) projects. E.g., grounds and club house maintenance etc. My personal views on this are that its crucial we put something in place asap, as our pitches are becoming more unplayable by the week with all this constant rain and bad weather. Social As most of you are aware the club has had some fantastic social events this season, and hopefully many more to follow. Raffle Tickets; Please be aware that if you have taken raffle tickets to sell on behalf of the club that the proceeds from these and any unsold tickets should be returned to Andy Edwards ASAP. If Andy is not available please feel free to give cash and stubs or any unsold tickets to myself or any other committee member, thanks. Please note that these generate a reasonable income for Minety RFC, so please use your best selling techniques to sell as many as you can, the salesman amongst you should excel. Many thanks. All proceeds, stubs or unsold tickets should be returned no later than 19th March. Quiz Night; Andy Somers has kindly agreed to organize a quiz night, date TBC, so watch this space. 6 Nations; Hopefully we will be showing all the matches at the clubhouse, so please try to attend and enjoy watching England win the Grand Slam!! Players day to Twickenham confirmed for the 27th Feb 2016, no tickets available now, but you are welcome to join us for the trip and a few beers. Minety RFC 7’s confirmed for May 7th 2016, please contact Jack ward (wardyjnr8@hotmail.com) if you have any queries or know of any teams that wish to partake, or get involved in sponsorship. Tour; Apologies, but the tour venue been changed to Bournemouth, as the uptake for Jersey had been quite slow, so we are looking to make this the venue for next season’s tour. This year’s tour will take place on the 29th April – 1st May. Please contact Jack Ward, Dale or Pete Hazel for more info. Total cost will be £175 for 2 nights away. Please get your deposits of £50+ to one of the above asap to confirm your place, many thanks. The Dinner is scheduled for the Friday 3rd June, as we have a fairly full social calendar in April & May and thought it best to split some of the costs up. As take up on this has been very slow we have had to make a decision and we will now be holding a small event in the clubhouse with a maximum of 80 people. If you would like to attend you need to pay in full to reserve your place, and it will be 1st come 1st served. Cost will be £35 per head. As I’ve said in previous newsletters and with my highlighted sentence below you have to respond to these requests, as we cannot run the risk of booking a Marquee for 160 plus people and then get a poor turnout, as this could severely affect the rugby clubs budget for the season. You have to help us to help you. A quick call, a visit to the club, confirmation via social media, email etc. it’s really easy to communicate these days. Sorry for the rant, but it’s very frustrating for the social committee when they are putting in a load of effort to make the club a great place to be, and they don’t get any support. We really need you to respond to these requests, as its very difficult to organize events without an idea of numbers. VP/Friends of Minety lunches We have over the years (since founded by Andy Ward) had many of these lunches and they are always a great day. It gives us old farts a chance to get together and reminisce and remind people how good we were in our day! It gives us a chance to see how Minety is doing on the field of play too, and keeps us all upto date with club news (good or bad). It also raises some money for the club in general, and especially behind the bar. This over the years has been organized by various people, Wardy, Ken Judd to name but a few, but has more recently been organized by Mark Wallington. All have done a great job and I thank you all, but a big thank you to Mark for carrying on with the role, and long may it continue. If, as you near retirement you would be interested in attending one of these dinners please let me know and I’ll pass your details onto Mark. I believe the invite is open to players past and present, so if for any reason you can’t play and would like to attend please let us know. At the moment we are limited to 30 though. Apologies for our sometimes overzealous support, that will be the beer, wine and port!! International Tickets Please note I have attached the club policy regarding international tickets and also an advert for the 6 Nations, so if you require tickets please review both these documents and contact Andy as detailed on the Advert. I have also attached an advert for the summer test in May between England & Wales, same rules and booking procedures as above. General If you know of any players past or present (or friends) that are not receiving this news letter and would like to do so please mail me their email address and I’ll ensure they are added to the circulation list, many thanks. Anyway I think I’ve covered most things, but feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or queries relating to the club and I’ll do all I can to help. All club officials are on our website, (address above) so if you’re query is more specific to a certain subject you may wish to contact the relevant person 1st. Please also contact me if you would like to add anything to the next news letter. I suppose player profiles could be next? Take care all, and let’s keep the momentum up both on and off the field. All the best, Dave Peirce Minety RFC Chairman MINETY RFC NEWS LETTER. Circulation = 112. Hi all, Apologies for the duplication of some of the details below, but best to keep you informed. On the field We have had some major pitch problems this season and a few games have had to be postponed due to the risk of drowning, seriously they are probably the worst I’ve ever seen them since I joined the club in 1979!!! Please always check the website and Face book before you come over the club to support incase the match has been postponed or relocated. 1st team update; Apart from the disappointment of losing in the cup we remain 8 games unbeaten in the league and remain in 2nd place, with our latest win being against Devizes 2nd team by 79 v 0. Great work, keep it up. Away to Corsham this Saturday 6th Feb, 2pm KO. 2nd team update; Doing very well this season and currently sit in 5th place in the D&W division 3 North. Keep it up lads, it’s great to see the club doing so well. Having said that, we have had a run of matches where the 2nds have turned up to play an equivalent level 2nd/3rd team only to find out the oppositions 1st team had been cancelled and subsequently decided to field them against our 2’s!!!! Most recently against Alfred Nomads (a mixture of Marlborough and Pewsey 2nds I believe) where we were beaten 66 v 5 by Marlborough 1sts!!! This is unacceptable , but after discussions with the 2nd team captain we decided to take no further action at this time. No fixture for the 2nds this Saturday 6th Feb. Match reports on the above fixtures and other news can be found on our website. Click here. If you’re unable to see the match on a Saturday we show the 1st team and some 2nd team matches on DVD at the club on Tuesdays after training, so please feel free to join us for the viewing. Some DVD’s are also available for purchase at £5 each, the proceeds of which go to the club tour fund, so a worthwhile expenditure (especially if you’re planning to tour). DVDs can be purchased from Graham at Bustard Productions. Check out their webpage. Click here. Training Although training seems to be going really well we could still do with more players turning up regularly, as it makes the coaches job much easier. Bear in mind he gives up his time every Tuesday & Saturday to coach and help you all improve and make sure we have the best squad available for both teams, but he needs your help too. I know it’s cold, muddy, wet, windy and dark, but we are Rugby players (except Jack, he’s still confused), no excuses. Come on lads you know it makes sense, help the coach to help you! You let your team mates down when you don’t attend training. We have had to make alternative arrangements of late due to the poor pitch conditions and have moved training to the activity zone at Malmesbury Leisure Center, please check with coach and captains on arrangements for training prior to turning up at the club or the Leisure Center. Membership!!!! A Negative I’m afraid: We still have some membership payments outstanding and we’re halfway through the season, which unless you pay in full will mean you have potentially had half a season for free. If you haven’t paid can you please do so asap. We don’t want to name and shame! It’s also not fair for those that have paid, when the non payees are receiving the same benefits. After all this entitles you to club benefits such as free food after matches, sports therapy, international ticket applications, admission to the club house (yes you should be a paid member to enter the club), discounted training tops, and hopefully other benefits to follow. We will be collecting the following fees from unpaid players: £5 per therapy session. £5 match fees, which can be back dated to the beginning of the season. £30 for training tops (as opposed to £10 for members). I appreciate that this maybe an oversight in some cases, and I’m sure no one deliberately avoids payment, but the club needs subscriptions to function and provide the benefits many of you are already receiving/using. If anyone is having any difficulties making payments please come and speak to one of the committee, we are here to help. Many thanks. Note. You don’t need to be a player to be a member, you can make a contribution to the club at any time. You’ll then be entitled to the same benefits as the players. Minimum contribution as a non player is £48 per season, but higher donations are gratefully received. It all helps out with the running costs of your beloved MRFC. VP’s/friends of Minety dig deep, many thanks. Sponsorship Work ongoing, but still hoping for volunteers to help with this, or even better, offers! Please let us know if you have any suggestions/ideas on who we could approach for further sponsorship talks, thanks. We’re also looking into the possibility of applying for grants (WIP) from certain companies/organizations to help us with pitch maintenance etc, but its early days, so watch this space. Some registration paperwork is due for completion shortly, which will give us a unique reference number and enable us to enter proposals for specific (yet to be defined) projects. E.g., grounds and club house maintenance etc. My personal views on this are that its crucial we put something in place asap, as our pitches are becoming more unplayable by the week with all this constant rain and bad weather. Social As most of you are aware the club has had some fantastic social events this season, and hopefully many more to follow. Raffle Tickets; Please be aware that if you have taken raffle tickets to sell on behalf of the club that the proceeds from these and any unsold tickets should be returned to Andy Edwards ASAP. Please note that these generate a reasonable income for Minety RFC, so please use your best selling techniques to sell as many as you can, the salesman amongst you should excel. Many thanks. Quiz Night; Andy Somers has kindly agreed to organize a quiz night, date TBC, so watch this space. 6 Nations; Hopefully we will be showing all the matches at the clubhouse, so please try to attend and enjoy watching England win the Grand Slam!! We are planning to return from Corsham on Saturday to watch the match so please feel free to join us. 4:50pm KO for the England match I believe? Andy Somers has kindly agreed to set up a predictor for the 6 Nations, please see FB click here. Players day to Twickenham confirmed for the 27th Feb 2016, no tickets available now, but you are welcome to join us for the trip and a few beers. Minety RFC 7’s confirmed for May 7th 2016, please contact Jack ward (wardyjnr8@hotmail.com) if you have any queries or know of any teams that wish to partake, or get involved in sponsorship. Tour; Apologies, but the tour venue been changed to Bournemouth, as the uptake for Jersey had been quite slow, so we are looking to make this the venue for next seasons tour. This year’s tour will take place on the 29th April – 1st May. Please contact Jack Ward, Dale or Pete Hazel for more info. Total cost will be £175 for 2 nights away. Please get your deposits of £50+ to one of the above asap to confirm your place, many thanks. The Dinner is scheduled for the Friday 3rd June, as we have a fairly full social calendar in April & May and thought it best to split some of the costs up. As take up on this has been very slow we have had to make a decision and we will now be holding a small event in the clubhouse with a maximum of 80 people. If you would like to attend you need to pay in full to reserve your place, and it will be 1st come 1st served. Cost will be £35 per head. As I’ve said in previous newsletters and with my highlighted sentence below you have to respond to these requests, as we cannot run the risk of booking a Marquee for 160 plus people and then get a poor turnout, as this could severely affect the rugby clubs budget for the season. You have to help us to help you. A quick call, a visit to the club, confirmation via social media, email etc. it’s really easy to communicate these days. Sorry for the rant, but it’s very frustrating for the social committee when they are putting in a load of effort to make the club a great place to be, and they don’t get any support. We really need you to respond to these requests, as its very difficult to organize events without an idea of numbers. VP/Friends of Minety lunches We have over the years (since founded by Andy Ward) had many of these lunches and they are always a great day. It gives us old farts a chance to get together and reminisce and remind people how good we were in our day! It gives us a chance to see how Minety is doing on the field of play too, and keeps us all upto date with club news (good or bad). It also raises some money for the club in general, and especially behind the bar. This over the years has been organized by various people, Wardy, Ken Judd to name but a few, but has more recently been organized by Mark Wallington. All have done a great job and I thank you all, but a big thank you to Mark for carrying on with the role, and long may it continue. If, as you near retirement you would be interested in attending one of these dinners please let me know and I’ll pass your details onto Mark. I believe the invite is open to players past and present, so if for any reason you can’t play and would like to attend please let us know. At the moment we are limited to 30 though. Apologies for our sometimes overzealous support, that will be the beer, wine and port!! General If you know of any players past or present (or friends) that are not receiving this news letter and would like to do so please mail me their email address and I’ll ensure they are added to the circulation list, many thanks. Anyway I think I’ve covered most things, but feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or queries relating to the club and I’ll do all I can to help. All club officials are on our website, (address above) so if you’re query is more specific to a certain subject you may wish to contact the relevant person 1st. Please also contact me if you would like to add anything to the next news letter. I suppose player profiles could be next? Take care all, and let’s keep the momentum up both on and off the field. All the best, Dave Peirce Minety RFC Chairman Tel: 01793 728114 Mob: 07769 976906 MINETY RFC NEWS LETTER. Circulation = 110 Hi all, Apologies for the duplication of some of the details below, but best to keep you informed. Area Cup Semi Final As you are no doubt aware we took part In an area semi final at Supermarine on the 9th January against Gosford All Blacks from Oxford, which we lost 10 v 5. It was a great performance by the lads and I hate to say it, but we lost due to some very dubious refereeing decisions. I always say we should respect the ref and congratulations to all the players for adhering to this request, although It was very difficult on this occasion, as it was a very poor show! We dominated the game in almost all departments and probably had about 80% of the possession. A full match report can be found on our website, and we are also getting fantastic coverage within the local papers thanks to Graham Cooke. Keep up the good work Graham, it is much appreciated. On the field 1st team update; Apart from the disappointment of losing in the cup we remain 7 games unbeaten in the league and remain in 2nd place, with our latest win being against Swindon 2nd team on Saturday (25 v 7). Great work, keep it up. 2nd team update; Doing very well this season and currently sit in 5th place in the D&W division 3 North. Keep it up lads, it’s great to see the club doing so well. Having said that, we have had a run of matches where the 2nds have turned up to play an equivalent level 2nd/3rd team only to find out the oppositions 1st team had been cancelled and subsequently decided to field them against our 2’s!!!! Most recently against Alfred Nomads (a mixture of Marlborough and Pewsey 2nds I believe) where we were beaten 66 v 5 by Marlborough 1sts!!! This is unacceptable and I am seriously considering making a formal complaint to the league, as this makes a complete farce of the league structure. Rant over. Match reports on the above fixtures and other news can be found on our website at http://www.minetyrfc.com If you’re unable to see the match on a Saturday we show the 1st team and some 2nd team matches on DVD at the club on Tuesdays after training, so please feel free to join us for the viewing. Some DVD’s are also available for purchase at £5 each, the proceeds of which go to the club tour fund, so a worthwhile expenditure (especially if you’re planning to tour). Training Although training seems to be going really well we could still do with more players turning up regularly, as it makes the coaches job much easier. Bear in mind he gives up his time every Tuesday & Saturday to coach and help you all improve and make sure we have the best squad available for both teams, but he needs your help too. I know it’s cold, muddy, wet, windy and dark, but we are Rugby players (except Jack, he’s still confused), no excuses. Come on lads you know it makes sense, help the coach to help you! You let your team mates down when you don’t attend training. We have had to make alternative arrangements of late due to the poor pitch conditions and have moved training to the activity zone at Malmesbury Leisure Center, please check with coach and captains on arrangements for training prior to turning up at the club or the Leisure Center. This Tuesdays session is at the Rugby Club (19th Jan). Membership!!!! A Negative I’m afraid: We still have some membership payments outstanding and we’re halfway through the season, which unless you pay in full will mean you have potentially had half a season for free. If you haven’t paid can you please do so asap. We don’t want to name and shame! It’s also not fair for those that have paid, when the non payees are receiving the same benefits. After all this entitles you to club benefits such as free food after matches, sports therapy, international ticket applications, admission to the club house (yes you should be a paid member to enter the club), discounted training tops, and hopefully other benefits to follow. We will be collecting the following fees from unpaid players: £5 per therapy session. £5 match fees. £30 for training tops (as opposed to £10 for members). I appreciate that this maybe an oversight in some cases, and I’m sure no one deliberately avoids payment, but the club needs subscriptions to function and provide the benefits many of you are already receiving/using. If anyone is having any difficulties making payments please come and speak to one of the committee, we are here to help. Many thanks. Note. You don’t need to be a player to be a member, you can make a contribution to the club at any time. You’ll then be entitled to the same benefits as the players. Minimum contribution as a non player is £48 per season, but feel free to pay more. It all helps out with the running costs of your beloved MRFC. VP’s/friends of Minety dig deep, many thanks. Sponsorship Work ongoing, but still hoping for volunteers to help with this, or even better, offers! Matt Cross has kindly agreed to take on the role of sponsorship officer, which is fantastic news, thanks Matt (matt-cross@outlook.com.) Matt has also managed to secure a sponsorship payment from his employer which is great, thankyou Matt, just a shame you are leaving us, you’ll be missed. I’m hoping he can continue his role with some help from our end whilst in London. Please let us know if you have any suggestions/ideas on who we could approach for further sponsorship talks, thanks. We’re also looking into the possibility of applying for grants (WIP) from certain companies/organizations to help us with pitch maintenance etc, but its early days, so watch this space. Some registration paperwork is due for completion shortly, which will give us a unique reference number and enable us to enter proposals for specific (yet to be defined) projects. E.g., grounds and club house maintenance etc. My personal views on this are that its crucial we put something in place asap, as our pitches are becoming more unplayable by the week with all this constant rain and bad weather. Social As most of you are aware the club has had some fantastic social events this season, and hopefully many more to follow. Coach Trip; We have arranged for coach travel to the Devizes away match this Saturday (23rd January)as both teams are at Devizes. £7 per person. Please contact Dale ASAP to guarantee your place. 1st come 1st served and there are only a few seats left so be quick, dlangdown@outlook.com Quiz Night; Andy Somers has kindly agreed to organize a quiz night for us and we were planning to hold this on the 6th February, as it’s the 6 nations and we didn’t have a fixture. This has now changed, as the 1st team fixture away to Corsham has been rescheduled for this day, and therefore we will reschedule the quiz for a later date, so watch this space. 6 Nations; Hopefully we will be showing all the matches at the clubhouse, so please try to attend and enjoy watching England win the Grand Slam!! Also keep an eye on Face book and your emails, as Andy Somers will be setting up a sweepstake with cash prizes. Players day to Twickenham confirmed for the 27th Feb 2016, deposit of £100 to Dale ASAP, but no later than the end of Jan. This is a paid up member benefit, so if you haven’t paid and want to go I suggest you pay up asap. We only have limited tickets for this event, but we’re also hoping to get some of us old farts to tag along on the bus for a day out in Twickenham (watch the game in a pub). We’re hoping to make this a player day in terms of ticket allocation, and I will be forfeiting my ticket to allow a player to go should the need arise, but try keeping me off the bus! Be quick & book early to avoid disappointment! Minety RFC 7’s confirmed for May 7th 2016, please contact Jack ward (wardyjnr8@hotmail.com) if you have any queries or know of any teams that wish to partake, or get involved in sponsorship. Tour; Apologies, but the tour venue been changed to Bournemouth, as the uptake for Jersey had been quite slow, so we are looking to make this the venue for next seasons tour. This year’s tour will take place on the 29th April – 1st May. Please contact Jack Ward, Dale or Pete Hazel for more info. Total cost will be £175 for 2 nights away. Please get your deposits of £50+ to one of the above asap to confirm your place, many thanks. The Dinner is scheduled for the Friday 3rd June, as we have a fairly full social calendar in April & May and thought it best to split some of the costs up. We are hoping to receive significant interest in this year’s dinner and therefore look to hold a large event (possibly a Marquee). Please can you let Dale and Pete Hazel know ASAP if you are interested in the dinner and how many tickets you are likely to want, so we can ascertain if it’s worth stretching to a Marquee? We really need you to respond to these requests, as its very difficult to organize events without an idea of numbers. VP/Friends of Minety lunches We have over the years had many of these lunches and they are always a great day. It gives us old farts a chance to get together and reminisce and remind people how good we were in our day! It gives us a chance to see how Minety is doing on the field of play too, and keeps us all upto date with club news (good or bad). It also raises some money for the club in general, and especially behind the bar. This over the years has been organized by various people, Ken Judd to name but one, but has more recently been organized by Mark Wallington. All have done a great job and I thank you all, but a big thank you to Mark for carrying on with the role, and long may it continue. If, as you near retirement you would be interested in attending one of these dinners please let me know and I’ll pass your details onto Mark. I believe the invite is open to players past and present, so if for any reason you can’t play and would like to attend please let us know. At the moment we are limited to 30 though. Apologies for our sometimes overzealous support, that will be the beer, wine and port!! International Tickets Please note I have attached the club policy regarding international tickets and also an advert for the 6 Nations, so if you require tickets please review both these documents and contact Andy as detailed on the Advert. I have also attached an advert for the summer test in May between England & Wales, same rules and booking procedures as above. General If you know of any players past or present (or friends) that are not receiving this news letter and would like to do so please mail me their email address and I’ll ensure they are added to the circulation list, many thanks. Anyway I think I’ve covered most things, but feel free to contact me if you have any concerns or queries relating to the club and I’ll do all I can to help. All club officials are on our website, (address above) so if you’re query is more specific to a certain subject you may wish to contact the relevant person 1st. Please also contact me if you would like to add anything to the next news letter. I suppose player profiles could be next? Take care all, and let’s keep the momentum up both on and off the field. All the best, Dave Peirce Minety RFC Chairman Tel: 01793 728114 Mob: 07769 976906
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