The Lighter Side

GROUND MAINTENANCE

Hopefully you will all have noticed that the pitches are looking better than ever, largely due to all the maintenance work carried out during the summer, and thank you to all the teams who managed by hook or by crook to stay off the grass to enable the re-seeding to take hold.
Percy Park have employed the services of Tynemouth Cricket Club for many seasons now, but due to the spiralling costs and the requirement for more hands on control, the club Management Committee have been looking at the possibility of buying our own equipment and using volunteer labour to maintain our pitches.

We have so far, obtained grants from Northumberland Rugby Union, the Rugby Football Foundation, and are eagerly awaiting the result of a Sportsmatch grant application from Sport England. Sportsmatch, matches £ for £ sponsorship obtained by the club, for specific projects, and the club is very grateful for the sponsorship of David Mutch and Holme Dodsworth Metals, Jopling and Turnbull and of course our own Chairman Michael Dunn.Keep an eye out for a shiny new bright green tractor.

 

Archie and Dougie

One of the great things about rugby is the cross section of people and the wide age range involved, ,to which Percy Park is no exception. Take last Saturday for example. At the game against Hartlepool Rovers, there were 85 years difference between our youngest supporter and the oldest! Former Club Captain Chris Dunn and his wife Ashleigh were proudly showing off their new arrival Archie now 2 weeks old, at the game to see uncles Andrew and Anthony playing for the club 1st XV. Okay the pendant amongst you who may have been at the match will say, only Andy was playing on the day, but Tony would have been playing were it not for the fact that he had just had a cauliflower ear syringed. Anyway, standing not far away was Dougie Dunn (no relation by the way) who recently celebrated his 85th birthday.
Dougie joined the club back in 1940 aged 16, and had school boy trials for England, before playing regularly for Northumberland and was part of the all conquering Park 1st XV in the 1950’s. Young Archie only has six years to wait before he can join the minis.

Tynemouth Beer Festival

The 3rd Annual Tynemouth Beer Festival ended on Saturday 19th September 2009, and was the most successful so far. The joint venture between Tynemouth Cricket Club and Percy Park saw over one thousand visitors to the event over the three days, which finally sold out of beer late on the Saturday evening.
Many thanks to Rouven Snowdon and Steve Mordue for all their hard work in organising the event which has proved to be an invaluable fundraiser for both clubs, and of course the RNLI who are to receive 10% of the profits as this year’s nominated charity.
Provisional dates are already in for next year, so put the 16th,17th  18th September in your 2010 diary.
For more details visit  www.tynemouthbeerfestival.co.uk

 

News

SUPPORT FOR THE BRITISH LIMBLESS EX-SERVICEMEN ASSOCIATION

At the last 1st XV home game (Hartlepool Rovers), sponsored by John Scott of Reed Ryder & Meikle, the club gladly agreed to allow a collection for BLESMA, and due to the generosity of club members, the young army cadets from the TA collected over £1000 towards this very worthy cause.
http://www.blesma.org/

 

RFU PROFICIENCY AWARD SCHEME DEVELOPMENT DAY

Last Sunday, 27th September, saw the first of the new RFU Proficiency Award Scheme Development Days at Percy Park, for the Under 7’s and Under 8’s. The session was run by Park’s Head Coach James Ponton and was a great success with nearly 90 boys and girls taking part. The “Development Day” was supposed to involve all three local clubs, Park Rockcliff and North Shields, but unfortunately on the day Shields were a no show.
Lead coach for the Under 8’s Glen Forster said
”Today's DD was outstanding. James and all the coaches turned in a fantastic session and ALL the kids had a great time, so much so, that we inadvertently ran on over the 1hrs 45 mins. The two clubs worked very well together at both age groups and as coaches we learned a lot from each other.

I was a bit neutral on the DD's prior to today; however there is an enormous benefit to both the children, coaches and clubs on their introduction. If you could pass on my thoughts and feelings to County and thank them for the initiative, it was a massive success and the feedback from the parents was exceptional .A Great day was had by all.

Northumberland Rugby Union plan to roll out the Proficiency Award Scheme to all ages groups throughout the coming season, and as one of the leading clubs for mini and junior rugby in the County, Percy Park will be at the forefront of this initiative.

Percy Park Academy

The newly formed Percy Park Academy got their league season underway with a fine win at home against Consett, although with several players in the Northumberland County Squad over the weekend struggled a little against tough opposition in the form of Carlisle (Saturday) and Blaydon (Sunday).
It was Head Coach Jimmy Ponton’s idea to amalgamate the Under 17 and Under 18 squads, and enter both the Saturday and Sunday Under 18 leagues, which is a break from tradition at Park, but is one which has merit judging by the numbers involved in training.
The Academy Head Coach Malcolm Cairns says “the idea is for the Academy to train with the 1st XV and Lions squads and adopt a style of play which allows a seamless transition for junior to senior rugby”.
The team is next in action at home when both the Academy and 1st XV take on Morpeth on Saturday 12th October 2009.

PIRATES WIN SAGE TOUCH COMP

Percy Park Pirates continued their remarkable season hot on the heels of winning the Falcons League in July, by winning the cup at the recently held Sage Touch tournament which raised £894 for the Percy Hedley Foundation.