SEASON 2021/2022 PRESIDENTS MESSAGE

14 September 2021

Dear Members,

The 7th of March 2020 was the last time we saw competitive rugby played at Riverside Park and by the time we play our first League game 17 months will have passed.

In that time, we have all had to deal with lockdowns, not seeing family and friends along with the fear of encountering this highly contagious virus. We have all suffered in some way or form but now we are hopefully on track to get back to some normality.

Since corona virus hit, the club has had to deal with the financial struggle of no regular income from our annual 7s, bar income, sponsorship, and subscriptions. However, through funding from the government we have been able to keep the books balanced which has put us in good stead for this coming season.

The Treasurers have done a tremendous job by managing the club’s finances, but nobody knows how this season will turnout so we as a club still need to be vigilant and work hard to look at retaining and gaining valuable sponsorship.

All our players, coaches and committee are looking forward to the season, it is going to be hard to adapt but I am sure after a few weeks we will all be enjoying watching Jed-Forest play.

The club welcomes two years’ worth of players from the Jed Thistle, these lads are all keen to be back playing. Along with our existing players they have been training hard when restrictions have allowed, and our training numbers have been good enabling us to schedule a couple of development games preseason.

I am looking forward to welcoming you all back to Riverside, sadly we will be missing some weel kent faces. As I said earlier, we have all suffered but some sadly have lost family and friends.

Whether it has been a Life Member, Ex Internationalist, or club member our thoughts are with the families who have had to deal with the loss of someone special.

Let us hope we can put the last 17 months behind us and look forward to another enjoyable season supporting the boys in Royal Blue.

Paul B Cranston

President

Jed-Forest RFC