The club has had a busy closed season in many respects. There has been a serious amount of building work done to complete the Studio Gym (conversion of loft space above the changing rooms). This has been the brainchild of Katy Moore (http://ktfc.fitness/welcome) who is also my own “keep fit” and “mental well being” guru. Katy and her team of builders (I think they’re all called Bob) have put in a huge amount of effort both in the conversion and fireproofing the ground floor. She’s also corralled a number of volunteers for clear ups and painting. It’s close to completion and watch out for news of a grand opening for Katy’s studio gym.

Training through the summer has been consistent and it was great to see over 30 people taking part in training / metafit at the club last night. Credit to Dave Higgins and Stephen Appleby who have prepared excellent coaching sessions and the feedback has been very positive. Katy’s circuits / metafit has been run in tandem with the coaching and that has worked really well – thanks Katy! We’ve also seen a good group of new players come down to train so the squad is building nicely. Added to this we’ve also been running O2 touch rugby sessions on Wednesdays for the last month or so and good to see newbie Dan Hopwood driving this. The seniors have had two tough warm up games but this should stand us in good stead in the early season games that follow.

Over the summer we appointed Lyndsey Craven as our new bar manager and she’s been very proactive in making improvements and has great back up from her partner Josh and a new team of bar staff. The club have also invested in a new Electronic Point Of Sale (EPOS) system (a new fancy till!)– this is going help us manage our stock better, be more efficient and add value to the club. All club members will be getting a new membership card which can be topped up with credit for bar purchases – but you can still use cash over the bar too! The executive committee remains pretty much the same apart from Paul Ferguson taking over as President from Neil Peden (who is still on the exec) and the Minis / Juniors have stability with Jon Hilton continuing as Junior Chairman. Mike Murray has taken over Fergie’s role as club captain.

Tomorrow the 1s are away at Altrincham 3s (kick off 3pm) and the Minis / Juniors have their registration / training on Sunday at 10.30am. Let’s hope for a successful start to the season for everyone involved.

I wish all the players good luck for the season and I hope the supporters and friends of AOMRUFC have a good season too and I look forward to seeing you all at banky lane and further afield.

Some dates for your diary:

Sept 9th - First 1st home game v Burnage 3s 3pm
November 5th – Club bonfire / Fireworks party 6pm
December 9th – Club Christmas party – tbc
January 27th – Burns Supper 7pm

Pat Stokes 1/9/17