Cobham Rugby Cub and Cobham Rugby and Sports Association held their respective AGMs at the club last Wednesday evening.
Steve Heard Chairman of Cobham Rugby explained that: 'the club's vision for some years has been to provide first class facilities to members and to develop a group of home grown players to compete at the highest level possible whilst remaining an amateur club.... and that perhaps the greatest challenge for the club is to develop a real 'one club' ethos.'
'To reinforce that club identity this year we introduced a new club shirt and colours that the board have agreed will not change for ten years so that over time all our players from under 6 to seniors will identify with the shirt'
Reflecting the need for volunteers Steve said: 'We desperately need to improve the volunteer culture within the club. With this put simply we need more people to step forward and drive things forward – we don’t lack for ideas, but we need people to take ownership of them, and for example we need volunteers to accept that they need to do once or twice a season, to assist at festivals, to organise social events and to offer other expertise such as legal, HR, fundraising etc.. to help the club.'
'This is your club, and in the words of JFK, ‘ask not what your club can do for you, ask what you can do for your club’
As an example of what a volunteer can achieve Steve paid tribute to David Williams 'who created a deal that gives the club an AGP (artificial grass pitch) at no cost to us. This will makes our facilities unique in Surrey'
Steve summarised: 'We already have great facilities that are about to be enhanced further with the building of the AGP. We play in a league that should be aspirational for the players we produce. Our costs are increasing and so for the facilities to be maintained, or further enhanced the membership needs to become more active.'
A full copy of Steve Heard's report can be downloaded on the link below:
S Heard Rugby AGM Speech 2019.doc
Full reports were provided by the Senior (Chris Melton), Youth (John Craig), Mini (Dan Cowan) and Girls sections (Matt Lunn for Vicky Alexander) and further reports from the Lacrosse (Shona Macree), Netball (Louise Harburn) and tennis sections (Steve Heard for Rosemary Bailey) of the CRSA, demonstrating the depth of activity undertaken at the Memorial and Covenham grounds.
All reports referred to the dedicated support provided by Dino Adams and Denise Symons the grounds co-ordinators who ensure all sections have acess to the pitches they need.
Finally, Club treasurer Jon Moxon provided a detailed presentation of the club's financial position highlighting the need to maximise income and minimise expenditure whilst not compromising on the club's objectives to be one of the best sports club in Surrey.
