Rugby Club Issue 61 | Page 85

Stanford and we also invite the youth lads along to senior training nights.” Community “We pride ourselves on being a community club, with strong links to the schools, local town events and the old people’s residence to name just a few. Our club house is used by a local charity during the day for handicap people, so we do try and be a part of the community. In the past years we have got together and presented Harvest festival gifts to the old people’s residence and even performed a Christmas carol concert, thankfully we have some club members that can actually sing. The club has helped with replanting the local flower beds and opened up the club to schools for the use of our grounds and facilities.” Challenges/Ambitions “Different challenges arise every year and as a proactive club we hope that we adjust and develop as they arise. Just because we recently celebrated our 40th year doesn’t mean we can just sit back and let the club tick along. We have to maintain our cash incoming through continued membership, so that we can keep on top of our facilities. To keep our membership growing we have to make sure we offer every chance to every boy, girl, man or woman to play rugby at Stanford RFC. Keeping our fantastic volunteers keen is always a priority as we can’t ignore the amount of time and effort they put in for free. In the coming years we want to cement our 1st team as a strong team in Essex 1, have our 2nd team climb up the leagues that they play in and our ladies get that promotion they deserve. Our targets we believe are realistic and to achieve these we will need to focus on the youth so that we have a steady stream of boys and girls coming through. We are a local club and pride ourselves on being a friendly family club, to rise too high would possibly jeopardise that to some degree so whilst being ambitious we must also stay true to our values.” www.sportip.biz 85