148 attend the hugely successful inaugural Presentation evening!

Just 6 weeks ago, not a ticket had been sold. On Friday night, 148 people from the club came together to celebrate the club’s achievements and pick out individuals from the Veterans to the Juniors for playing their part in one of the club’s most successful seasons for years.

Off the pitch, this year marked the first as a truly united club, with the ladies and mens’ sections coming together to form a single entity during the close season. On the pitch, teams celebrated this landmark in spectacular style: both 1st XIs were promoted with the men regaining their National League status for an unprecendented 4th time. Not to be outdone, the mens’ 3rd XI were also promoted, and then at the awards we learned that the ladies 3rd XI had completed the symmetry by also being promoted within the Cambs league. Add to this the Veterans winning the club’s first ever National Trophy as they lifted the Masters Plate title, and the juniors shining with both U16 and U18 indoor teams reaching national finals indoors, U16 outdoors losing on strokes in the quarter finals of the U16 Boys Cup, and the U18 outdoor side suffering the same fate at the semi-final stage of the U18 Boys Plate – and it has been a wonderful season.

To celebrate, every captain was asked to select their Player of the Season. With so many people contributing both on and off the pitch this year, many captains asked if they could give an award to their whole team – although with 42 players having played for the 7th XI, that would have covered quite alot of the club! After much thought, these were the players they chose to single out:

• Veterans  XI       Alastair Bradley

• Men 1st XI         Dave Appleton

• Ladies 1st XI      Fran Houghton

• Men 2nd XI         Andrew Cave

• Ladies 2nd XI      Georgia Harrison

• Men 3rd XI         Neil Lake

• Men 4th XI         Scott Howard

• Ladies 3rd XI      Katherine Amps

• Men 5th XI         Leo Davies

• Men 6th XI         Dave Simpson

• Ladies 4th XI      Emily Fisher

• Men 7th XI         Declan Shepherd

• Men 8th XI         Chris Neal
  (RU – Simon Custance & Top Scorer Tom Seaton)

The club also traditionally awards some prestigious trophies to individuals who have shone across the whole club. These awards were made to :

• Men’s Top Scorer Steve Gregory Cup                      
  Gareth Andrew

• Ron Ballantyne Trophy, Boys’ Junior Player of the Year  
  Cameron Heald

• Girls’ Junior Player of the Year                        
  Anne-Marie Ash

• Men’s Young Player of the Year                          
  Joe Paul

• Ted Belton Cup - Senior Male Player of the Year         
  Carl Daniels

• Senior Ladies’ Player of the Year                       
  Lisa Cave

• Clubman of the Year                                     
  Paul Evans

The unexpected presence of special guest former club coach, Steve Jackson, on a short visit from his home in Australia was welcomed by many old friends. Club sponsors Adrian Woolley and Stephen Pinning, from the Fane Orthotics clinic were also present and enjoyed the whole occasion. Comedy value was provided by Vice-Chairman Jane Wilson tripping over the microphone cord and narrowly failing to land inelegantly on the floor.

To a man (or woman!) everyone present voted the evening a huge success – and the club is already beginning to plan for next year’s event!

Huge thanks go to all those involved in the organisation, especially Colin Lake, Sue MacNaughton, Amanda Ayres and the captains who sold tickets; and for assistance on the night from Tim Davies as doorman.