1980-81: Reeve’s Record Breakers

After a four-year struggle to raise funds and get planning permission for floodlighting the first team pitch, we eventually got the go-ahead and the lights were installed in the spring of 1980. The official switch-on took place on 1 October by Alec Ramsay, the Immediate Past President of the RFU, whose father Sir William Ramsay had opened the clubhouse in 1970. The inaugural game was played against Public School Wanderers who, with a team comprising mainly Oxford University players, reversed their defeat here in 1976 and won by 22-14. The lights cost around £12,000 and were funded by a grant of £2,000 and an interest free loan of £3,000 from the Sports Council, with the rest coming from club funds. The specification of the lights was among the best in the region and in this first season a programme of fixtures was arranged to enable all of our teams to sample floodlit rugby.

This was the first year of the official Central Merit Table, which took over from the unofficial Sports Argus table which had been running for four years. It was conceived as either a stepping stone to league rugby, or a ploy to avoid league rugby, depending on how you saw it. A planning meeting had been held with seven other clubs the previous season (Camp Hill, Derby, Dudley-Kingswinford, Kenilworth, Lichfield, Newbold and Sutton Coldfield) and the table was set up within guidelines agreed by the RFU. Bromsgrove, Chesterfield, Kettering and Westleigh were then added to the table to make 12 teams. As with the Argus competition, the clubs involved did not all play one another and the intention was to instigate comprehensive fixtures as soon as possible. Positions were determined by awarding two points for a win and one for a draw (in the first game if teams played twice) and then converting the total to a percentage, based on the number of games played. Our own Andy McKowen administered the table and we finished in third place, with Kettering coming top.

Dave Reeve (pictured) took over the captaincy of the first XV and we were pleased to welcome George Wellwood from Grangemouth as our coach. No fewer than 12 of the previous year’s Colts moved up to the senior teams and four played in the first team on opening day - Mark Williams, Dean Rawlings, Pete Elliott and Paul Bowkett. New arrivals included Paul Gisbourne, an outstanding prop forward from Stratford and two excellent recruits from Kenilworth - fly-half Alan Newbold and No.8 forward Neil Robinson. There were also a number of players coming back to the club. Guy Nicholls returned after nearly 10 years away from the area; Paddy Healy returned from Stourbridge and Gary Taylor from Leicester.

We opened the season with good wins against Fullerians, the Hertfordshire Cup holders and Newbold. Our form fluctuated for a while after that, with only 2 wins in the next 7 games, including a major setback in the Warwickshire Cup, going down 6-16 at home to Stoke Old Boys, whose strong pack controlled the game. Our form picked up spectacularly at the end of November with a win over Moseley United under the floodlights. With the return of Peter Preece from injury, the arrival of French winger Jean Inchauspe from Stratford and the brilliant form of Guy Nicholls we won 17 of the next 20 games, playing some of the most open and skilful rugby seen at Moorefields, including the scalps of Bromsgrove, Derby and Leicester Extras, as well as doubles over neighbours Kenilworth and Stratford. Although not the best all round rugby player, Inchauspe was the most spectacular of finishers and as an unknown on his debut against Lichfield he outpaced the visiting defence to score two tries in the opening quarter and was only denied a hat-trick when ruled as having put his foot-in-touch. This was followed by 5 tries against Kings Norton, a feat matched by Preece against Stratford in a game in which he ran riot. Full-back Nicholls developed the most outrageous dummy pass against onrushing attackers who would follow his extravagant wind-up and dummy into midfield as if hypnotized, only to find him moving off down the touchline – he later admitted to having borrowed the idea from Norman David.

It became clear towards the end of the season that there was a real chance of beating the record number of victories in a season, held by Paul Brant’s side of 1972. The record 29th win was achieved in spite of a difficult run-in with victories against Leigh, Leighton Buzzard and a Rugby XV (who fielded 12 of the side that had played Coventry the week before). The record was achieved against Berry Hill on the final Saturday. Stalwart, John Lyne was elected player of the year with fellow forward Paul Bowkett the most improved player. Alan Newbold, with a massive 241 points, was top scorer for the first team and Jean Inchauspe and Peter Preece got 16 tries each.

First XV – 1980-81 Tommy Tucker (Rugby Chairman), Guy Nicholls, Paul Gisbourne, Jim Poynter, Robin Andrews, Trevor Roberts, Neil Robinson, Paul Bowkett, Peter Preece, George Wellwood (coach) - Fred Emeney, Tony Evans, Alan Newbold, Dave Reeve (captain) Neil Waterfall, Paddy Healy, Tony Philpott

The Extras went two-better than the first team, winning 31 games and playing consistently all season, as did the Spartans who lost only 3 of 34 games. The Stags had an opening day defeat at Fullerians, but then lost only twice more, on both occasions by a single point. They had a run of high scoring wins during December and January, the biggest being a 92-0 slaughtering of Droitwich, who had conceded only 106 points all season up to that point. Simon Chandler got five tries and Derek Brown and Trevor Wood four apiece. Against Stow-on-the-Wold, Paul Lea put in a guest performance, in what was to be his last match for the club before emigrating to Australia. This run of form put the Stags within striking distance of 1,000 points for the season which they achieved comfortably, with a final total of 1,044 – a club record, which still stands. The Tigers also had a good season winning 20 games including a 16-0 victory at Evesham in January with only 13 men, when John Hibben scored his first try in 11 years. Three games were played by a Dragons (veterans) side. It is not clear which games these were as there are some anomalies in the records, but they might refer to matches against Old Warwickians Veterans (38-0), Rugby (18-6) and Lichfield. Overall, the club played 217 games, winning 162 and drawing 8. Gary Taylor topped the try scorers with 27, followed by Roger Mullis with 25 and Simon Chandler with 24. Pat Callaghan was overall top points scorer with 267. Paul Bowkett played for Warwickshire under-23s. Unfortunately, Gill Nye, our first physiotherapist left the area in mid-season.

Because of the promotion of many of the previous year’s side, the Colts went through a period of rebuilding with a very young team, led by Dave McGee. But they still managed to win 22 games, including the scalps of Moseley, Leicester, Northampton and Rugby. Mark Hunt, Geoff McClean, Andy Reeve and Tim Byford were consistent scorers. They reached the semi-final of the Warwickshire Colts Cup only to lose 8-3 to Broadstreet in a replay, after a 6-6 draw. They also reached the final of the county colts’ sevens. During the season the club entertained Warwickshire Colts against Argentinean touring side, Belgrano Athletic Club and we received a nice letter from them thanking us for our hospitality and the opportunity to make friends in this country – this gratitude would be replaced by a sinking feeling as the cruiser bearing their name was torpedoed during the Falklands War the next year!

The Easter tour to Cornwall was regarded as one of the best ever, for weather, hospitality and also results. Some pictures are shown below. The “Extras” took on Falmouth on the way down on the Friday and won 9-4 with three Kit Forrest penalties. The “first team” fixture was won 15-8 against Penryn on the Saturday with tries from Tony Murray and Steve McGee, and the Extras made it a hat-trick by beating Camborne on the Monday in a superb display of open rugby, with Gary Taylor scoring a hat-trick and other tries coming from Ken Kelly, Dick Luckman and Neil Robinson. Sevens was still popular and we reached the semi-finals of the Coventry tournament, losing to Old Gaytonians from Middlesex and we won the Warwickshire Sevens for the third year in a row. The main end-of-season disappointment was the cancellation of the mini festival due to an unseasonal heavy snowfall.

Spartans 1980-81 – Chris Murray, Simon Chandler, Ian Harwood, Dale Rawlings, John Rawlings, Dennis Brown, Pete Marshall, Ray Ward – Hugh Lewis, Pete Elliott, Phil Marsland, Steve Whitby (Captain) Dave Townsend, D. Smith, Andy Brough

The record points scoring Stags of 1980-81 Martin Severs, Bill Slora, Pete Bailey, Trevor Wood, Simon Roper,

Chris Long-Leather, Paul Mullis, Denis Brown - Bill Harris, Alan Malin, Pete Forrest, Peter Payne, Roger Maycock,

Richard Armitage, Chas Strickland

1981-82: Final Loss to Stoke OB

At the AGM in June, the club was stunned to hear of the sudden death of Jack Devis, our immediate past President. Jack had played more than 600 times for the club over 25 years, as a hooker or prop-forward and held the rare distinction of captaining every senior team except the first team during his career, which ended in 1973 at the age of 55. He was believed to have been the oldest player to have played for the club up to that time: since eclipsed by Norman David. It was decided to hold an annual charity match under the new floodlights and the inaugural game, between a President’s XV and the Mayor of Leamington’s XV, was played on 14 October in memory of Jack and Neil Taylor (another recently deceased member) and raised £800 for Myton Hospice.

After the previous year’s record-breaking season, and with most of the side still available, hopes were high for another good campaign. Dave Reeve captained the side again with George Wellwood continuing as coach, although unfortunately this was to be his final season, as his job was to take him to Brussels. Gary Taylor moved to Northampton and Paul Bowkett and Mark Partington were only available for the early games. Ex-colt Dean Rawlings became a regular in the centre and new reinforcements included Brian Taylor, a versatile forward from Harbury, Jim DeMain a centre from Hinckley, and most significantly, Cumbrian scrum-half John Williamson from Kenilworth, who was to become one of the most influential players ever to play for the club.

The team got off to a poor start, failing to win any of the opening month’s fixtures, including our Central Merit table game against inaugural winners, Kettering. Our form picked up after that and in the run-up to Christmas we won our next three Merit games and the opening two rounds of the Warwickshire Cup: against Old Coventrians and Trinity Guild. But then came the worst winter in many years. Heavy snow fell on the day of the Varsity Match and stayed with us, on and off, until the middle of January. A total of six weeks’ fixtures were lost. During a lull in the bad weather over the New Year, England took on Australia at Twickenham when Erica Roe stole the show, with her 40-inch superstructure defying gravity during her famous half-time streak. During this same lull we came up against Coventry Welsh in the quarter finals of the Cup. The Welsh had beaten us in the 1980 final and one way or another they were determined to do it again. In a brutal and intimidating game, with danger-man Peter Preece singled out for special treatment, the team showed great resolve to battle through to a 13-6 victory, thanks to a Dean Rawlings try and the boot of Pat Callaghan

Warwickshire Cup Final 1982 - Guy Nicholls, Pat Callaghan, Bob Mallinson, John Sturley, Neil Robinson, Steve McGee, John Faulkner, John Lyne, Alan Reeve, George Wellwood (coach) - Paul Gisbourne, Dave Reeve (captain) Tony Murray, Peter Preece, Dean Rawlings, Tony Philpott, John Williamson, Jim Poynter

The Warwickshire Cup now became the focal point of the season. As in 1980, the semi-final was against Keresley, who had put out holders Bedworth. It was played in mid-February at Newbold and was a tight affair with both sides scoring two penalties to finish level on 6-6 at full time. Extra time followed but produced no further score and the teams were forced to replay the following week at Kenilworth. In another tight game, we scraped though 6-3 thanks to a late Pat Callaghan penalty.

The final against Stoke Old Boys was played on a muddy Coundon Road. Stoke were strong favourites, with a 100% record for the season. The game turned out to be an epic struggle. After an early exchange of penalties, Stoke took the lead 6-3 but the match swung Leamington’s way just after half-time when Peter Preece skipped through to score in the best move of the game. But Stoke came back and were gifted a try when full back Guy Nicholls failed to gather a kick ahead and their winger nipped in to score. Leamington piled on the pressure and after Pat Callaghan was unable to lift the ball out of the mud with a kick in front of the posts, Preece steadied the nerves with an equalising penalty. At 10-10, the game went into extra time and both sides had penalty chances to win, but the game was drawn.

The replay was a battle between the forwards. Stoke dominated the line-outs and Leamington the territory. After an early exchange of penalties between Callaghan and Stoke’s Paul Evans, a try just before half-time put the Coventry side in front and a second try and conversion after 50 minutes made it 18-6 and left us in deep trouble. But back we came and two brilliant scores by man of the match John Williamson brought us back to 18-16. With seven minutes left to save the game, we threw caution to the wind, but Stoke held firm and when a pass went astray in midfield they pounced to score and clinch the Cup by 22-16.

In the Merit Table we were forced to catch up with the fixtures missed due to the Cup run and the bad weather. From a position of being potential winners at Christmas our form slumped and we finished in fourth place. The winners were Westleigh who beat us in the final game of the season. In the local derbies we beat Kenilworth comfortably by 23-6, but lost 9-11 to Stratford, which ended a 13-match winning run against them, going back to 1974.

Bill Dalton was appointed captain of the Extras, but was required for regular first team duty in the first half of the season, so Dave Scannell took over and led the side through another excellent campaign with 22 wins. Steve Whitby achieved a similar record with the Spartans, with Andy Brough leading the point scorers. The Stags also had a good year under Peter Payne, the highlight being a 26-13 win over Abbey at the end of January, who up to that point had only conceded 34 points all season. Hugh Smith was top scorer.

Norman David continued to skipper the Tigers and kept turning out a side every Saturday and every mid-week opportunity he could think of, including prison visits to Long Lartin. In 1982 Norman started to organise Tigers Tours, in the absence of official club tours. The first tour was to the “Far East” of England - Kings Lynn and Norwich. The usual events were sadly overshadowed by the death of Clare Oxenbould in a car crash following the first game, but the tour went on. On the Sunday afternoon, in a small hotel in Norwich, during a long drinking session, whilst we entertained ourselves by converting the pin-board dining menu into rude words, the receptionist popped out for a few moments just before an elderly couple checked in. To be helpful, John Warner deputised on reception and asked if they wanted a double room and if so, were they were married. He explained that “We don’t want any hanky-panky going on here and we have to be careful about the reputation of the hotel”. They were allowed in after giving appropriate assurances as to their conduct.

Fulfilling the promise of the previous year, the Colts had a record season, achieving 30 wins from 33 games. Of the 3 lost, one was to the Northampton Youth side, despite outscoring them by 3 tries to 1. Tim Byford captained the side and he, Peter Gray, Stuart Chamberlain, Dudley Turner, Mark Hunt, Dave Jagger and Simon David all played for Warwickshire. The high point was winning the Warwickshire Colts Cup outright for the first time, having shared the trophy twice before. Trinity Guild and Coventry Saracens were dispatched in the opening rounds, taking us into the semi-final against Newbold, which we won 10-0 with two Tim Moore tries. In the final at Coundon Road we played Barkers Butts and went into half-time six points down after two penalties were conceded. Early in the second half, winger Simon David broke out of defence and Mark Hunt joined in the line to put Simon over in the corner. A second try by Simon clinched the Cup by 8-6. The Colts were supported by a strong coaching team of Maurice Goymer, John Gray and Pete McGee, although Maurice was unable to witness the fulfilment of his work, as in February he was posted to work in Toronto.

1982 Warwickshire Colts Cup Winners David Bramley, Dave Ward, Duncan Coutts, Mark Hunt, Peter Gray, Andy Price, xxx Nick Brembridge, Dave Jagger, Dave McKowen, Steve Johnstone, Mike Hein, Simon David, Stuart Chamberlain, Tim Byford, Dudley Turner, Tim Moore, Adrian Young, Matt Piette.

The Colts with the Warwickshire Cup

Mini Rugby continued on its successful way and again the spotlight was on the team coached by Terry Liggins and Glyn Pitchford, now playing as under-12s. They completed a three-year spell of 80 wins and 4 draws out of 85 games (2,444 points to 68) and an unbeaten run of 59 games. Alan Rowland notched up 59 tries in the 1881-82 season, in which 1,088 points were scored. Such was their reputation as the best mini team in the Country that they were asked to play an exhibition game against Caerleon of Newport (the best side in Wales) prior to the John Player Cup tie between Coventry and Gloucester in April. In front of the BBC Rugby Special cameras the showdown ended in a 4-4 draw. Caerleon were subsequently invited to the Leamington festival and reached the final to play us again, and this time we settled the question of who was best in Britain by winning 12-6. The winning side in the 1981 Wolverhampton tournament is shown below – Guy Stanton, Peter Harrison, James Cooper, Terry Liggins (coach) Allan Rowland, Chris Adams, Patrick Wegerdt, Bryan Nelmes, David Thomas, Tim Liggins, Mark Colebrook and Neil Griffiths

Trevor Roberts was social secretary in 1981-82 and he had the idea of “Running the Ball” (a relay run, a bit like the carrying of the Olympic torch) from Moorefields to Twickenham in order to raise funds for charity and for the club. This duly took place on 15 May 1982 and a team of around 15 runners and their back-up supporters set off at 5.am. Over 12 hours later they ran onto the hallowed turf and Robin Andrews had the honour of touching down. The run raised around £400 with half going to Helen Ley

House and the balance to the club. People enjoyed it so much that, over the next four years, further runs were organised - to the National Stadium in Cardiff (1983), across the sea to Ireland and Lansdowne Road (1984), over Hadrian’s wall to Edinburgh (1985) and finally across the channel to Paris (1986). All the unions except Scotland opened their stadiums for us but the Academicals kindly allowed us to use their ground instead. Overall, several thousand pounds were raised for local charities, including Helen Ley House, Castel Froma, Leukaemia Research, Paraplegic Sports, Save the Children and the Daryl Hawkins Fund. [The full story of Running the Ball has been put together by Trevor Roberts and is in the club’s archive. Anyone is welcome to a copy from info@leamington rugby.co.uk]

Residue 1982 Les Rogers (referee), Dave Payne, Dave Bramley, Bill Slora, Peter Gray, Mick Brain, John Sturley,

Simon Chandler, Tim Moore, Pete Forrest, Peter Payne, Roger Maycock, Peter Preece, Dean Rawlings

Early in 1981 work began on a major clubhouse extension incorporating a pitched tile roof and arched window front. It cost around £30,000 and included the addition of the front lounge, a referee’s room, an equipment store, larger changing rooms and a new entrance and toilets. With Pip Moore acting as Clerk of Works the job continued throughout 1981-82 and to reduce costs it was done using labour provided by a youth employment promotion scheme known as Community Industry. With a bad winter and cash-flow problems, the job took longer than expected, but was completed by the end of the 81-82 season.

The picture above showing the completed extension was taken in around 1986. The other photos show the construction taking place during 1981 and 1982

There was a major financial crisis during the 1981-82 season, due mainly to commitments on the clubhouse development. An appeal was made to members for loans and it was decided that we would need to look at ways of diversifying our fund raising and find new ways of increasing income - a hint of things to come.

Tigers Tour to Norwich – John Warner, Tony Barton, xxx, Ian Forrest, xxx, Pop McGhee, John Lyons, Steve Whitby,

Norman David, Hugh Smith, Referee – xxx, John Sturley, Richard Armitage, Pete Reid, Tony Grimes, Ray Seneviratne

1982-83: JR becomes County President

John Richardson became President of the Warwickshire RFU this season and began his two-year term of office, following in the footsteps of Cliff Harrison. This was celebrated by a President’s evening at the club in December, attended by Warwickshire clubs. Bill Dalton captained the first XV for a second spell and Dave Scannell, who continued as captain of the Extras, supported him with the coaching duties. Paul Brant took over from Lol Smith as Chairman of Rugby. The opening line-up was - Kit Forrest, Mark Williams, Peter Preece, Jim Demain, Tim Moore, Alan Newbold, Kit Forrest, John Williamson, Paul Gisbourne, Bob Mallinson, John Sturley, Trevor Roberts, John Lyne, Neil Robinson, Bill Dalton and Simon Roper.

Tim Moore stepped up from the previous year’s outstanding Colts side and played the entire season on the wing, top scoring with 22 tries. Other Colts who began to make their mark were Dave Ward, Dudley Turner and Peter Gray. New players arriving during the season included two recruits from the Warwick University side which had played against us the previous season - winger Dave Lamb and Derek Larmour, an Irish schoolboy international fly-half. Seasoned prop Mick Brain also arrived from Coventry Tech. The season proved to be a bit of a mixed bag and it was difficult to find any early consistency. However, a good away win at High Wycombe at the end of October started a winning run up until Christmas, including the notable scalps of Dudley-Kingswinford and Burton. With Peter Preece out injured we were fielding a young three-quarter line of ex-colts – Ward, Turner, Philpott and Moore.

The floodlights were proving to be a mixed blessing. It gave us the opportunity to pick up new opponents and play rearranged games, but it also showcased our players and a game against Moseley Extras in November resulted in prop Paul Gisbourne being poached by the Birmingham club. His loss was a big blow, but John Hecht stepped up to fill his shirt. In fact, he burst it and a special extra-large size had to be ordered. One of the floodlit highlights was a splendid game between Leamington and Walsall under-21s which demonstrated the level of talent coming through and led to the idea of holding an under-21 competition under the lights. The second annual charity match was held in memory of Clare Oxenbould, who had died in a car crash earlier in the year and in favour of Castel Froma, with whom she was associated. We took on a strong South Warwickshire President’s XV and went down 6-17.

First XV 1982-83 Pat Callaghan, Neil Robinson, Dudley Turner, Tim Moore, Peter Gray, Trevor Roberts, Bob Mallinson, Mick Brain, Derek Larmour, John Sturley, Tony Philpott, John Williamson, Tony Murray, Bill Dalton (captain), Dave Reeve, Jim DeMain

After our narrow failure to lift the Warwickshire Cup in 1981-82 we had another successful run, defeating Rugby Welsh and Earlsdon in the early rounds and then a particularly good win in a bruising battle against Newbold, who had who had beaten us earlier in the season. This took us into the quarter-finals against Keresley when we came from behind to win 22-10. The semi-final was against Solihull and after two postponements due to bad weather the game was eventually played at the end of February. Despite being the better side on the day and playing all the rugby, we went down 6-3 on an exchange of penalties. Solihull went on to win the Cup. Future England coach Martin Green, a master at Warwick School, helped the club with our preparation for the cup games.

Only two Merit Table games were played before Christmas, both of which were won, but our form slipped after the break and we won only two more of the remaining fixtures, finishing fifth. Increasingly we were facing the dilemma of maintaining our traditional fixture list whilst promoting the use of the floodlights and meeting the demands of the Merit Table and Cup. A series of bad winters with cancellations and postponements didn’t help. We had been struggling for some time with how to fit in the Warwickshire Cup games. There were Saturday slots for the first two rounds, but after that we had to decide whether to honour our Saturday fixtures and double up on Sundays, or cancel the Saturday fixtures, or field the Extras as the first team, with the other sides all playing one level up as well.

The club continued to show its usual strength in depth, but results were not as spectacular as in recent seasons. After losing their first game by a point, the Extras were quickly into their stride and won 20 of their next 23 games. The Spartans also started well with six straight wins and other than a brief dip in form over the autumn, when Phil Marsland handed over the captaincy to Simon Roper, they won most of their games, with Simon Chandler, Pete Oughton and newcomer Ted Robeson among the regular try scorers. The Stags and Tigers both won two thirds of their games and the Tigers might have done better but for Norman David’s ongoing injury problems - he missed his ninth game in thirty-one years! The team was helped by the presence of winger Mick “the Road Runner” Clothier, who scored 5 tries in two successive matches during a purple patch in October.

1st XV at Newbold – Rob Mallinson, Simon Roper, Paul Gisbourne, Neil Robinson, John Sturley, John Lyne,

Kit Forrest – Jim DeMain, Peter Preece, Mark Williams, Bill Dalton, John Williamson, Tim Moore, Alan Newbold

The Colts had a season of transition after their recent successes, with a number of the players progressing through the senior sides. In their opening game they fielded seven 16-year-olds, but with Tim Byford and Peter Gray outstanding and young players such as Simon Walden, Steve Johnson, Mike Riley, Stuart Mallinson and Rob Rennel coming through they still won more than they lost. A major disappointment was to lose hold of the Warwickshire Cup in the first round, going down 7-0 to a good Southam side, in a game in which Byford and Riley were both hospitalised.

On the representative front, Derek Larmour was picked for Warwickshire under-23’s and Peter Gray for the under-21’s and Colts. Simon David, Tim Byford, Mark Hunt and Peter Gray were all selected for England Colts training at the start of the season. Unfortunately, Mark was involved in a motor cycle accident and was unable to take part, but Peter went on to play for the Midland Colts and made it onto England training squad. He failed narrowly to gain selection, losing out to Nigel Redman, who went on to play for the British Lions. Peter insisted that Redman was picked on reputation rather than ability and told him so when he spoke at the club dinner some years later. Peter had been scouted for England the previous season and a confidential report on him said he was “a good rangy jumper…….but not strong in possession, scrummaging, rucking or mauling”!

The Easter tour “oop north” to Yorkshire was a social success but results were not good. Late changes in the itinerary did not help. The Good Friday game was on route against Pontefract and was a bit of a disaster with an “A” side going down 18-50 - Tony Barton and Ray Seneviratne scoring our two tries. The main match was on the Saturday against Whitby but we lost this 16-35 with Steve McGee scoring twice and Pat Callaghan kicking the points. The final game against Selby 2nds was lost 26-9 with Dean Rawlings our only try scorer.

Geoff Farndon led the end of season sevens side and we opened by playing in the Rugby tournament where we reached the final, losing to Coventry. We hosted the Warwickshire Sevens for the first time on 1 May and won the event again. It doubled as the official opening of the Cliff Harrison lounge with J.V. Smith, President of the RFU doing the honours. The tournament, organised by Guy Nicholls, was played under the most atrocious conditions with torrential rain all day. Victories over Bedworth (28-0), Warwick (24-0) and Warwick University (22-6) took us into the quarter-finals against GEC (24-0) and the semi-finals against Broadstreet (10-0). In the final we played Lanchester Polytechnic and cruised home 38-0 and overall scored 146 points against 6. The winning side was - John Williamson, Derek Larmour, Tony Philpott, John Sturley Lester Turner, Bob Mallinson, Kit Forrest and captain Neil Robinson, who missed the final due to injury.

Opening of the Cliff Harrison Lounge on 1 May 1983. Pictured and sheltering from the rain are: John Richardson,

David Glasborrow, John Oxenbould, Keith Ogilvie, Pip Moore, Paul Brant, Cliff Harrison, Andy McKowen,

JV Smith (President of the RFU) Brian Griffin, John French and Trevor Rober

Unbeaten Under 13s 1982-83 Phil Jackson, Chris Adams, Stuart Cotton, Mike Heelis, Jamie Cooper,

Laurence Boyle, Peter Griffiths, Mark Colebrook, Peter Harrison, Niall Griffiths, Terry Liggins – Tim Liggins,

Bryan Nelmes, Julian Ball, Guy Stanton, Alan Rowland, Patrick Wegerdt, Matthew Burton

Off the field, a difficult financial situation affected nearly all the club’s activities, due to the usual problems of struggling to achieve a satisfactory level of bar profit and the collection of subscriptions etc. This was compounded by the demands of completing the clubhouse redevelopment, which swallowed up a lot of money but did not generate the additional income that was envisaged. A lot of effort had to be made to get things under control but the cash flow situation left us in constant difficulty. Honorary Treasurer, John Kane drew the short

straw and spent the season fending off final demands from creditors and their Solicitors. The use of bailiffs was threatened on more than one occasion and a court summons was issued for non-payment of Rates. On the social side, Paddy Healy organised the club’s first cabaret evening, as pre-Christmas entertainment. This proved to be a hugely popular event and was repeated in 1983 and 1984. It allowed players to show another side to their talents and some interesting, if politically incorrect, acts appeared as below.

Top McGee, Pete Elliott and Paul Mullis in nappies. Al Jolson, Mark Partington and ………….as minstrels. David Glasborrow, Rob Mallinson, Trevor Roberts and Maurice Goymer from Fawlty Towers. John Harris as Max Boyce