DECEMBER’S SUCCESS

December was an incredibly successful month for Newark, with large crowds attending all our fixtures. Our Boxing Day match was a particular highlight, with close to 500 people joining us for what has become a very important social day in our club calendar.

WEATHER CHALLENGES

January has brought weather challenges – the one thing we simply cannot control. Several fixtures have been cancelled, and we’ve been careful to manage the impact that training has on our wet surfaces. Thankfully, we’ve been able to move sessions to the showground and “The Lost Village” (thanks to Dan Laird) to minimise both short and long-term damage to our pitches. Please continue to watch for updates from your lead coaches.

SPECIAL VISITS AND RECOGNITION

We were honoured to welcome Joe Heyes back to the club to lead a coaching session with our senior men and Colts. The feedback has been brilliant – what a very special person he is. Good luck to him in the Six Nations over the coming weeks.
Many of you will have seen Dusty Hare’s article in The Telegraph, where he shared views on some of the challenges facing our game whilst giving our club a fantastic review. If you haven’t read it, I highly recommend seeking it out.

ON-FIELD PERFORMANCE

With limited games this month, we’ve seen both our senior men and women compete hard. Whilst we came second in those fixtures, our second XV men played superb rugby to beat Ollerton, introducing several Colts in the second half who scored seven tries between them. This talented group has been developed by Chris Coen and his coaching team from six years old, and I have a feeling you’ll be seeing more of them in the second half of the season.
We’ve also successfully secured four new players for our senior squads, which gives us confidence for improved results going forward.

OFF-FIELD DEVELOPMENTS

January saw the second draw from our new 250 lottery. Remember, the £1,000 draw takes place at Easter, and we’d love to see membership numbers increase. I encourage all members to join so we can continue improving our facilities for future generations.
On the 22nd, we held our first sponsors’ event of the season, with over 50 partners joining us for a special evening. Huge thanks to Tom Cartledge, Matt Cove, David Hayle, and Alan Staines for their presentations. The feedback has been very positive, and the slides are available to all. If you have questions, please ask – we’re keen to receive further feedback.

FINANCIAL UPDATE.

Away from the pitch, the operating profit for the year to date (£67,214) is tracking lower than budget (£77,032). This is largely the result of timing - the Legends Night is taking place next month, rather than November, so we should catch up in due course. Looking forward, we are still on course for a positive outturn for the full year (hopefully between £10,000-20,000), but we remain exposed to increased costs on everything from beef and beer to employment costs and grass seeds; and any adverse events (forced weather closures are always a worry at this point in the season) have a big negative impact. If we are forced to Move this weekends training to the Lost Village will probably result in close to around £2,500 in lost revenue…so there is no room for complacency.

On the cash side, I am still expecting our net ‘free’ cash to be somewhere in the region of £35,000-£40,000 at the year end (31st July), which gives us around 1.5 x our average monthly overhead spend. To put that into context, most organisations will be trying to have at least 3 x overheads in reserve, so whilst we are performing well, we still have work to do to make sure the club is thoroughly secure against the considerable headwinds we are all experiencing at the moment. This means that we have to proceed cautiously with investment spending and look to outside sponsorship and grants to support our own resources, all of which we are doing.

LOOKING AHEAD TO FEBRUARY

Our next Legends evening takes place on the 19th February with a Leicester v Saints theme. We have two tables available if you’d like to join us.
The Six Nations kicks off this Thursday with France v Ireland at 8:10pm, which will be screened at the club. Chef will be complementing our new Happy Hour with all draft beers at £4 and Pie & Peas at £6.
The Happy Hour has been introduced following your feedback, so please come down and support England and your club. You asked, and we listened.

Looking forward to seeing you all soon.

David Godfrey,
Chairman.
Newark Rugby Club