It was a much-changed first team against Barkers Butts on Saturday due to injuries and non-availability but the team put in a great performance to win by 19-0, with tries from man-of-the match Gareth Shuttleworth, Patch Northover and Josh Jones. A full report from John Warner is on the club website.

Unfortunately, the first team changes drew players from the second team and we were unable to fulfil our fixture at Shipston. The Seconds have a team ready to play this week and we are looking for a fixture at home. We will put something on the website and in our social media when we know

This week the first team are at Berkswell & Balsall who, after completion of the first quarter of the fixtures, are looking like the side to beat if we are to get into the promotion slots. They won their first 5 matches and slipped up for first time at Kidderminster on Saturday but still lead with 27 points from Old Coventrians in second place on 26 points and Leamington third on 20. It is proving to be an unusually competitive league with all sides having won and lost games and the bottom two of Spartans and Bromsgrove 2nd have won 10 and 6 points respectively. As you probably know all league results are available on the RFU website from about 5.00 on Saturdays, including league tables. They have recently extended their service to include a wider range of league stats which are worth a look.

Our meetings with Berkswell go back to November 1931 when we played them for the first time and won 5-0. Another win followed before the war and nothing more is known of them until they formed a new club in 1981and played at the local school and we began playing them with our lower sides. Our first teams did not clash until 1990 when we drew them in the Warwickshire Cup and sneaked a 5-0 win at their new ground, when their new clubhouse was being built. The next time we played we won 93-0 and had a succession of victories until 2011-12 when they turned the tables on us and since then they have won 9 of the last 10 fixtures. Although they are a much-mproved club they have had a few ups and downs in the past few years, gaining promotion to Midlands 2 and then winning it to go into Midlands 1, before dropping down again and surprisingly being relegated to Midlands 3 in 2017-18. They have recovered well since and after a strong finish last season they are now sitting at the top of Midlands 2

Six Nations Tickets. England are playing Scotland (4 February), Italy (12 February) and France (11 March) at Twickenham. We have a set allocation of 28 tickets for both the Scotland and France games and these have been ordered and confirmed. Some will be made available to club sponsors and the remainder will be available to members to apply for. An application form is attached which gives further details. Applications should be received by 30 October.

Annual subscriptions are now overdue. The rates and the arrangements for paying or increasing your subscription are contained within the letter attached along with a bank mandate and a CASC tax benefit form.

Our annual fireworks display is being held on Friday 4 November. Gates are open from 5.30 and the display will take place at 7.30. Prices are - £10 per car up to 2 people, £20 per car with more than 2 people and £5 per pedestrian. Admission is CASH ONLY. Hot food and amusements will be available as usual. We are recruiting our team of Marshalls to control traffic flow, so if you can help please contact Phil McGaffin asap (pgaff99@gmail.com)

johnlizlyons@btopenworld.com