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OCRFC Chairman Communications

OCRFC Chairman Communications

George Williams18 Jan 2016 - 19:41

2016 News from Your Chairman

Happy New Year to all at OCRFC.

A new year begins and hopefully, if the rain and snow stops, we will continue our season after a long Xmas break. This weekend should see two senior sides playing on Saturday, one at home and one away, and on Sunday a number of junior fixtures. So brush off your wellies and come up and enjoy some rugby and enjoy the fresh air while its not raining!

There are a number of important notices for the remainder of the season, so please take note and I look forward to seeing you over the next few weeks.

BAR OPENING TIMES

The bar will be open as usual on Saturdays when there are home games. For these, the bar will stay open until 8pm unless there are not enough people drinking to warrant the bar staying open. If however there is an organised social or there are more than 20 people left at 8pm, then the bar will remain open. Karen is also organising a happy hour to entice drinkers to stay on at the club, further details on these times will be announced shortly.

VP & SUPPORTERS LUNCH

Following the success of the Lunch in December, we have the next Lunch planned for March 5th, followed by a league game against Guildfordians. Could I ask you all to start planning your tables early so no one is disappointed. Following very late cancellations by a group at the last dinner, any cancellations received after the Friday March 4th, or no shows on the day will be expected to pay for their tickets.

SPRING DINNER & DANCE

We are holding a Dinner and Dance on May 21st at the Surrey National, this event is open to all members of the Rugby Club and guests and would hope to see a good cross section of members attending from Seniors through to Junior/Minis Parents and Coaches to supporters and Friends. For more details, please see the attached flyer and contact details so you can arrange a table or tickets. Tables need to be booked in January so we can confirm the event with the venue.

NEW CLUBHOUSE

As many of you will be aware, the school are planning to build a new sports pavilion at the site in Park Avenue. This will, when completed, replace our existing clubhouse and changing rooms and provide us with shared facilities at the new sports pavilion. Planning has now been approved by Tandridge Council and building of the new Pavilion should start later in the year. The Old Clubhouse and changing rooms will remain until the new facilities are available sometime in 2017. This is a very exciting period for the club and once completed provide us with a stunning new pavilion and ample changing facilities for all sections. If you would like to know more about the plans and progress being made, please contact me directly at oldcats@hotmail.com

COMMUNICATIONS

I am concerned that our current form of communication for the whole rugby club is not as efficient as it should be and seem to have many different mailing list utilising email and other electronic media, such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Texts and word of mouth. Therefore we intend to try and create a single email database that will cover the complete club from senior players through to Mini’s parents. So over the remainder of the season, I will be providing team managers/coaches/captains etc access to a google shared spreadsheet that they will be able to update with very basic information so we can communicate effectively next season. Please do take the time to complete the data for your section/team so everyone knows what is happening at the club and when. If you know of social members or other members of the club that are not currently on an email list, please ask them to forward me their name and email address to oldcats@hotmail.com.

We are therefore looking for a volunteer that would be prepared to act as database administrator, so if you have a few hours a week to assist with this important task, could you contact me directly at oldcats@hotmail.com. Once we have all of the data captured it should be a relatively easy job to maintain the base information through the shared files.

KIT & MERCHANDISING

We are currently reviewing our kit suppliers, as it appears we use a number of different suppliers across each section and in some cases, team groups. We have also decided as a committee to look at not only standardising on a single supplier to achieve improved financial savings and quality, but also to return to a single brand image, utilising the club colours, across all teams, both at senior, junior and mini levels. We will not implement this until the season 2017/2018 to ensure that the current kit is well worn, or in the case of the mini’s and juniors, they have grown out of their current kit. The new design will be decided by a competition across the whole club, providing all sections the ability to provide their own design for the new club strip. Once agreed upon all teams will have their shirts produced utilising the Club design, although each section/team will still be able to have their own sponsors names included on the shirts or shorts as they are currently. Tour shirts can still be designed and produced as they are currently, but would ask that they do still utilise the club colours and use the club selected kit supplier.

We are also looking at the selected kit suppliers to provide a range of club merchandise that can be sold across the club, ranging from Beanies, Baseball Hats, Polo Shirts, Club Shirts, Jumpers, Sweat Shirts, Socks, Shorts, Training Tops and many other items. To ensure that this is managed effectively, we are looking for a merchandising manager that would be prepared to take on the roll across the whole club. If you feel that this is a position you would be suited to, please contact me at oldcats@hotmail.com. Our simple aim is to have everyone involved in OCRFC wearing a branded item of clothing that can be worn, not only when they are representing the club on the pitch, but when they are out and about during everyday life. We need to provide a clear distinctive image that everyone outside and inside the club can recognise and associate with OCRFC. Having a single brand in club colours will provide this and help grow the status of the club both on the rugby field and within the local region.

I am at the club nearly every Saturday and Sunday, so if you would like to discuss anything about the club you will most likely find me close to the bar.

I am sure we will have a great second half of the season as long as the weather is kind to us.

Cheers

George

George Williams
Chairman OCRFC

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