Having presented our funding plans to UK Sport and Sport England we now have to wait until December for the decisions on what future funding we may have. That has not stopped us progressing our plans though and the last couple of weeks have been about getting moving in a number of key areas. As many of you will know we are now working with Roma Sports in Bridgend who are developing new chairs for us. The prototypes are out there being used and refined and we will be in a position to purchase some more soon so that we can get new chairs into those clubs who are struggling to meet the demands of the new post London interest. London has helped to provide some spare chairs but I hope to have found some more money to get others in place quickly. I have met with Archie Palmer, Chair of London and heard how well the London AGM went and his club’s plans for the future which all sound great and which when we recruit the Development Officer posts we will better be able to support. The Plymouth and Solent clubs, the latter well supported by Solent University, are really coming on well and the future for both look bright and the Crushers in Glasgow have now moved to their new venue in the Commonwealth Games Stadium. I visited the new Saracens stadium with Archie Palmer this week and that is going to be quite a spectacular facility which in the future we may well be able to use for different events. In the short term we are looking at developing a youth programme as part of the wider community development work that Saracens undertake through the Saracens Foundation. On Monday next we will deliver a taster session at Headley Court which is the start of our new Military Rehab initiative – this will be run by Pirates Coach Paul Jenkins and supported by some of the GB team. I will also be meeting with all the club coaches next week to discuss the future coaching structure and hear their views. Meanwhile I am working on the adverts and the Job Descriptions for some of the key posts we are looking to recruit to so if you are interested then watch this space as the first will start to appear early in December. Finally, the Development squad are now in Prague and about to start the competition so good luck to them.
David Pond
