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Chairman’s Report – April 2016

Chairman’s Report – April 2016

Jeff Ball16 May 2016 - 06:00
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April showers do not dampen spirits.

It was a bit damp last month, wasn’t it? It’s safe to say the rain (and snow!) played havoc with our fixtures meaning the next couple of months are jam-packed with rearranged fixtures.

Despite this, we still had a brilliant April, with a number of highlights, the biggest of which was Rocket Tots.

After months of work and trialling sessions in local schools, Rocket Tots officially launched in its Saturday morning slot at Cramlington. With children from ages 2-6 taking part and an excellent coach is Chris Ure who brings bags of enthusiasm, we have been blown away by the reception from those early sessions, both in person and on social media, making it easily one of our most talked about activity launches.

With requests for spaces coming in every week, plans are already afoot to look at expanding them for block 2. That would mean up to SIXTY Tots get to run around and have fun and start their journey into rugby league. Awesome.

Rocket Tots was one of the reasons that lead to a big highlight for the club, being named rugby-league.com’s national Club of the Week. Having being asked for more info by the gurus behind the site, they put up a brilliant write up for us, which made you proud to read. The photos were cool too.

We have been lucky enough to be given mascot spots for Magic Weekend once again. After enjoying the Hull derby, this year it is the opening game between Salford City Reds and our friends, Widnes Vikings. The big difference this year was while it took maybe 19 days to fill the spots, this year they were snapped up within 19 hours! Proof that there is a lot more awareness of what magic is, this year.

Magic Weekend has naturally been a theme for a while now, and with 550 weekend tickets to distribute, our volunteers have got a lot of work to do with just over a week to go! A brief reprieve for them was attending the Magic Weekend launch night with Sam Tomkins, Michael Shenton and Newcastle Thunder in attendance. Our players proved themselves to be excellent Geordie Jenga players, the winner of the tie breaker being U11 Joe who received a signed Wigan shirt from Sam. His dad, from Leeds, was ‘thrilled’.

As I have always said, giving juniors the chance to interact with the senior game is imperative for their development. Likewise is the chance to gain representative honours, so we were thrilled when 10 of our lads were selected for the North East Colleges train on squad. The sixth forms and colleges represented stretched the length and breadth of the region and it is a good opportunity for those involved to represent where they live.

On the field, the first team had a productive first run out under the new coaches from Newcastle Thunder, Evan Simons taking the reins to guide the side to the final of the Thunder 9s where they were unfortunate to lose to reigning champions, Durham Demons.

May is of course all about Magic Weekend, but there are some other activities to look forward to. I have been busy at work, giving away 1,000 tickets to charities to Magic Friday as part of match sponsorship by my company, Brewin Dolphin. Interest was very good and 100 charities are now set to benefit.

After that, we have camps returning in the school break, including our first ever Junior Elite Rugby Camp so there is no rest for the wicked. Whatever you are doing over the coming month, I hope you have an amazing time.

Onwards and upwards

Jeff

Jeff Ball
Chairman

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