Diminishing

The Thursday Gang, a group of volunteers who help at the rugby club, help each other and support each other.

All the way through the pandemic we met when we were allowed and occasionally when we weren’t. We worked tremendously hard during lockdown periods to improve the fabric of the club, repainting, installing new TV systems, ensuring that the functional checks required by H&S and the RFU were carried out. We wrote the Safe Systems that allowed rugby to gradually return post pandemic and completely updated all the H&S Logs and the requirements contained within them.

There were six of us, reducing to five, five became six, then seven and peaked at eight before falling away to the four ‘active’ members now. The season has resumed and the volunteers are back despite advertising for additional, preferably younger, volunteers we have received not a single enquiry.
On Thursdays we have a last chance to make the ground safe, clean, tidy and presentable for Saturday, on the Saturdays two are on the entrance gate and always miss the first half of the match but we get together post match have a chat and a beer, not the rousing post match time of old, hearts not in it.

We have a Volunteers Christmas Lunch in the clubhouse planned for December the 15th at which we will get around 12 to 15 turning up, I’ll be cooking which I enjoy, but I expect that the volunteers will fall away again post Christmas to the three or four of us that regularly turn up - such a shame.

I left the volunteers at midday today, Mrs S required help to pack and load the van ready for an early start tomorrow as we head off to Oktoberfest.

Mobile phone to “Do Not Disturb” for three full days, one eye on the rugby results but concentrating on ensuring that Mrs S has a good time and relaxes.