Another fantastic turn out last Saturday for the HH town day at Victoria Park and Sunday training, thank you to everyone that made these events such a success. Mini’s club membership is creeping upwards and I’d like to remind everyone to register online at www.hhrfc.co.uk please ensure that you review your profile and keep it updated i.e. everyone in the mini’s section is a parent/guardian of one or more children, a supporter and could be a coach/admin. All subs need to paid by end of September please – if you find it difficult to meet the cost please talk to either myself or your age group manager/admin. The club has to reregister all mini’s and youth members with the RFU in the next few weeks – for existing members this is a simple tick box exercise on the RFU web site – however, if you’re not registered on the HHRFC web site as a member and a paid your subs we will have to assume that you no longer wish to play for the club and will delete your son/daughter from the RFU database. They will not be allowed to represent the club at festivals/tournaments until they are reinstated as a RFU member with HHRFC!

Town Day – It might have been damp and overcast but it didn’t affect the spirits and enthusiasm of the children and coaches that made the effort last Saturday – 35 boys and girls accompanied by parents and friends attended the event along with 12 coaches/managers. Far more than I’d expected earlier in the week – the event organisers were very impressed. Pictures in the Mid Sussex Times and on our website.

2nd Hand Kit – Clare Christian the U10 manager will be collecting any unwanted HHRFC kit. If you have any clean, usable kit you no longer need, please could you bring it to the Club House this Sunday 19th - Clare will be there to collect it. If you would rather drop it in to Clare this week, please email her on clare@onesixsix.com to arrange. There will be a range of kit available from only £1 so please come along. All proceeds go to the Club so we would be very grateful for any donations.

Mid Week Training Wednesday evenings – 5:30 – 6:30pm ATP pitch Downlands Schools, Hassocks. Attendance this week was greatly improved with 12 x U12’s, 21 x U7-U8 and 9 x U9-U10’s along with 4 additional coaches from the U7/U8 it made such a difference. Thank you for your support and I hope to see you all again in the coming weeks and months, we need to maintain and grow these numbers especially in the older age groups if we are to justify these overheads to the club. Use it or lose it as the ref said!

Open Days – promotion at local schools. One down – two to go! The next two Sundays are open days for the club and we need a steady flow of children to maintain squad levels – I’d like to think we’re all proud to part of the HHRFC team. Please promote to all local schools, ask if your child could make a poster, stand up in assembly/tutor to talk to his school friends. Networking at the school gate and inside schools – the government is extremely keen to promote the 3 hours of physical activity for all school pupils. If you live outside the HHRFC catchment i.e. Burgess Hill/Lewes/Crawley you might need to consider other local clubs – they don’t like poaching!

Opro Gum Shields – Dentist visit next week Sunday 26th 10am - noon. The club has a policy of no gum shield – no play for players involved in contact games. Whilst boil and bite gum shields offer a level of protection, they not offer the level of comfort and safety a custom made gum shield will. Your local dentist will charge £70 - £80 for a fitting – Opro charges are ½ this. The club benefits from each sale with all the U6/U7 balls this season being supplied by Opro. If you intend to order one please let your team admin manager know and complete the application form in advance, this will enable us to manage the scrum down next week and avoid too much disruption to your training session.

Additional Fixtures – Saracens Cup – Quins Etihad Cup – Wasps/Quins/Saracens Land Rover Cup. I am delighted to inform you that that we’ve secured places in several national competitions in the coming season. The Saracens Cup is an inaugural competition open to all age groups U7-U12 and is hosted at either Barnet FC training ground which is a first class facility in north London or Watford with Premiership/Heineken Cup matches at Wembley & Vicarage Road after the competition. There are various dates for different age groups. On the 28th November we will descending on The Stoop for the Quins Etihad Cup all age groups U7-U12 are entering at least one team and most are taking two, your team admin will need to know your availability and ticket requirements ASAP. The U11’s & U12’s have an option to enter the Land Rover Cup competition hosted by all Premiership clubs with the winners parading around Twickenham at ½ team during the Premiership final in May. Last year’s U11’s won the Saracens event at the first time of asking and will be back to defend their title this year plus having a crack at the Quins & Wasps events as well. Dates and venues are posted on the fixtures section of your age group, again your team admin will need to know your availability and ticket requirements ASAP. To foster a sense of team spirit and reduce our carbon footprint and hopefully save you money in fuel/parking costs we hope to run coach/es to all these events. Other benefits are that the squad is together from the start and coaches can talk to team members about their roles and responsibilities, less stress on the drivers. More players might be able to attend as it reduces the need to have a parent/guardian attend – subject to agreement with coach/manager or a responsible adult who is prepared to chaperone your little angel!

Parking – the old chestnut! Beech Farm field car park is nearly completed and we await the council to sign it off (they need to ensure visibility splays in either direction) but it should available early October? Fortunately we have the use of the training area in front of the club which can easily accommodate all the cars for mini’s and juniors who attend on Sunday – assuming that we park considerately i.e. facing east/west and where directed. Thank you to the parents that helped out last week and others who volunteered to help out this week. Please do not park on the road/verge/pavement as it prevents the free flow of traffic in and out of the site and is major safety issue for you and other members of the club and general public.

Thanks again for reading – see you Sunday.

Martin Cleary – Mini’s Chairman.