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Kettle, voted Player of the Season, missed only the last league game and the cup final when he and Chris Planchant left for the Southern hemisphere season in New Zealand.

Adam Kettle and Chris Planchant have played a leading and invaluable role in the Club's Schools Liaison programme and the Junior and Minis Section. We are sure that they will enjoy the experience of playing in New Zealand and, great players that they are, will come back even better.

Other players who have performed consistently during the season have been the props Ian Davies and Gerallt Evans, backs Matt Pennington, Anthony Birley and Paul Brett.

The Second XV, with a slightly better playing record than their seniors, ended at 7^th in the Fairclough Homes League with 15 games won and 10 lost. Steve Dean, Steve Ashcroft and Jon Harris have developed in the Seconds and have performed well when plugged gaps in the First XV ranks and will surely feature more regularly at a senior level in the future.

Running a squad capable of producing a team which can compete effectively in the National Leagues is quite an expensive business, so the Club is very appreciative of the generous financial support of the sponsors and members who make it possible.

A team of dedicated members is working to improve the quality and broaden the scope of the sponsorship opportunities for next season and improve facilities at the club for sponsors and supporters alike.

Doug Thorpe

Thirty five boys and twelve adults went to South Wales in late March. The boys were all given new sportswear with the club badge, which was provided by Frank Duff. The tops have become highly prized items of clothing and some of our junior members wear them constantly.
Chris Planchant, who organised the tour, arranged for the two teams to play Bonymaen, which is his local club and where he started to play rugby at the age of six. The under thirteen team lost decisively, but the under fourteen fixture was a closely contested game, which resulted in a narrow defeat for New Brighton.
The tour included a visit to Neath to watch the Swansea/Neath Ospreys play Edinburgh in the Celtic League. On display was the Six Nations Trophy and there were a number of international players on view. The boys were able to collect a number of autographs, including that of Gavin Henson, who is the focus of so much media attention. The Ospreys won the Game.
Despite not winning the rugby matches, the tour was a great success and out thanks go to Chris and all the other adults who gave up their time to ensure that the boys had a fantastic week end.

A large number of boys and their parents attended this event and the weather was perfect. Ellie Taylor and her band of helpers provided the food and the bar was open from noon. The boys were divided into a number of teams based on age and played one another on a round robin basis. There were winners but that was not the object of the exercise.

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