Southport RFC has already acknowledged that it is one hundred years since the start of World War One. The war has a special significance for the Didsbury club too.

The suffix TocH derives from a soldier's club established by the Reverend Tubby Clayton at Poperinghe near Ypres in Flanders in 1915. It was a place where troops of all ranks could go for a brief respite from the battlefields. It was named Talbot House, as a memorial to a young lieutenant killed in action in one of the many conflicts in the previous year.

http://www.toch-uk.org.uk/History.html

The fixture is a reprise of a more recent battle on the rugby pitch with Southport out to exact revenge after losing to Didsbury in the final of the 2009/10 Plate. Believe it or not but after 138 years this was the first final of a senior competition that a Southport first team had ever reached!

Whilst we're at it by way of a trip down memory lane what else happened in 2009/10?

- Our beloved Ann Shorrock became the clubs first female president.
- In the close season Waterloo Road hosted the O2 Beach Rugby Tournament, the u16’s ‘Too Hot to Touch’ Beach Rugby Team winning through to the national finals at Twickenham. It become the first team from Southport to play on the hallowed turf acquitting themselves superbly to win the Plate, the prize for which was a commemorative signed England shirt now adorning the clubhouse. Stars that day included current first team whippersnappers Dan Whalen & Tom Peacock, the 'dog' scoring the try of the tournament!
- On 8th October the club was awarded RFU Mini & Youth Seal of Approval. A plaque is fixed to the wall adjoining the entrance to the clubhouse.
- The u15s (including Forest Bailey, James Smallwood & Sam Cross) won the Lancashire Junior Bowl beating Liverpool St Helens at Rochdale, the u16s (including the aforementioned Whalen & Peacock, Tom Smith, Dan Aindow, Jake McMullen) finishing runners-up to Ashton-u-Lyne.

In WW1 parlance very much a Testament to Youth.

Bring on the 2014/15 season!