WELCOME...to all our members, past and present, young and old, who have joined us at our Annual Reunion as the season is drawing to a close. It's always great to mix and mingle with so many familiar faces – some seen not quite so recently as others, some of whom have travelled a distance to join us – and to share a pint or three whilst reliving some of those unforgettable memories. Thank you all for coming along today, with a special thanks to Martin Wain for his contribution in chasing up everyone with the assistance of Mike Wright, and Tim Wear for his investigative research into times gone by; the archive material included in this programme owes much to his dedication. I hope you enjoy reading it, are all in in good spirits, of strong voice, that we enjoy a good game of rugby and that some of you will be more regular visitors in future.

And let me offer a very warm welcome to O Rishworthians, our visitors from Halifax for only their second visit to Acklam Park. They are currently sitting in a perilous position, second bottom of the league. Despite winning more games that third bottom Hullensians they are two points behind them. The difference is down to bonus points, seven for our visitors against 13 for Hullensians. However their situation has improved a little in recent games – although their last victory was eight games ago, in four of their last seven games they have drawn 20-all with Bradford Salem and lost three of them by only two points to gain some much needed bonus points. They started their campaign OK, winning two of their opening five games, but they then lost their next six before three wins from four games in mid-season help to improve their situation. We have managed to win our previous three encounters; as much as Rish need to gain something from this match we need to continue that sequence of victories to end a run of four consecutive defeats – it makes for an exciting match!

BORO RUGBY To quote an oft-used punch-line from TV – I do not belieeeve it! Last week saw the third postponement of our league and cup double-header against Bradford Salem, with Acklam Park looking more like a pond, as you can see in photographs on our website. There's no confirmation of the new, fourth, date – it could be Easter Saturday, which is the next available Saturday. The Wasps were also without a game, but today they are at Novocastrians before playing Morpeth next week in the final of the CANDY Cup; that game will take place at Ryton, selected as a neutral venue.

Despite the horrendously wet weather last weekend, our 'A' team and our Colts both managed to play. The 'A' team boys had one of their hardest games of the season. They accepted an invitation received on Thursday night to play at Northallerton, and although they continued their very impressive record to secure another victory, it was by the only score in an extremely close game, as you can read in the edited website match report by Eric Windross. With a total of 867 points scored they are edging ever closer to the magical 1000 figure. Meanwhile the Colts entertained Malton & Norton on Sunday, by when the a marsh had begun to emerge from the pond. They lost but enjoyed a rattling good game. A heartening feature of the Colts season is that despite initial difficulties in securing fixtures they have so far managed to play 21 games,

CLUB NEWS Very many congratulations and our best wishes to Kieran Clark, who is playing in the North of England U20s trial at Lymm tomorrow, and also to our own Sam Seymour – yes, that his dad in the sponsors bar! - who is on the threshold of an appearance at Twickenham. Sam is currently playing at Westoe whilst attending university at Newcastle, and they cruised into the semi-finals of the National Intermediate Cup last week by demolishing visitors, Bowdon (Cheshire) 76-14. In the semi final they will face Kenilworth from the Midlands. We wish them – and Sam – every success leading to a successful appearance at HQ.

Incidentally Phil Horrocks-Taylor, who hopes to be with us this afternoon, holds a unique distinction in the annals of club and country rugby. 58 years ago, 18 March 1961, the England v Scotland game saw for the first time two players in international opposition who joined us at Acklam Park. John Brash won his only cap playing for Scotland whilst at Cambridge University (he also found time in between his studies to join the club on tour) and Phil, although still with Leicester before his move North, was capped at fly-half. Phil record his only points for England that day with a penalty.

PLEASE MAKE A NOTE that in addition to our inaugural Mid-Summer Ball, a number of other events loom large on our calendar, as follows:
Friday, 10 May: Annual Dinner and Presentation Evening, Sporting Lodge
Wednesday, 12 June: Annual General Meeting
Friday/Saturday, 19/20 July: Annual Beer Festival
We are also giving serious thought to how to celebrate our 150th anniversary in 2022. Time has a habit of flying by and 2022 will be here in the blink of an eye. We would welcome your thoughts and suggestions on what events and activities you would like to see organised to give the season some real impact that such an important milestone deserves. Please feel free to offer your ideas to Dave Waddington, Mike Wright, Gordon Pargeter or Don Brydon – or indeed any one of your officers. We want to make this a whole-club celebration.

SPONSORS This afternoon I am delighted to welcome back two of our regular sponsors. They are Andrew Gloag (the 2009 Farmers Weekly Arable Farmer of the Year) of Gloag & Sons Ltd, a farming and contracting business which began on their farm on the outskirts of Stokesley almost a century ago. The business has developed through a variety of agricultural activity, and having plant and equipment available for hire. The family's association with the Club started with Andrew’s father, a Scottish international, who played here in the 50s. Our other regular sponsor also has a father-and-son association with the club (or should that be grandfather-father-son) – he is Tom Seymour of Dromonby Fisheries, son of John, who played for Rovers before joining us, and father of Sam (see above) and Will (Colt and Wasps player). Dromonby, which is also at Stokesley, has developed private fishing facilities across a sequence of waterways on their farmland.

REFEREE'S CORNER The England/Scotland links continue, as I am delighted to welcome our referee today, John Smith from Edinburgh, whose one and only visit to us was to referee our Selby match a year ago. John is only 20 years old but he has already been a referee for four years. Impressively he is on the SRU Panel and a member of the Scottish National Development squad; it's pretty obvious he is a rising star. John was a hooker at Ross High School in Tranent, East Lothian, located just east of Musselburgh, and is a materials designer. I hope he enjoys his time with us this afternoon.