Hi ,

Welcome everyone.

I had a family gathering at our place last weekend and a number of us have signed up to Fantasy rugby. I’ve picked my 23 but to be honest have no idea what I’m doing. Time will tell!

At the latest committee meeting it was decided that this year's Old Timers Day will be at Easter on Saturday 19 April, when Tawa meets Pōneke for the Carmichael Cup at the home of rugby - Lyndhurst Park. It will also be our annual Family Day. There will be activities for all the family to enjoy, so put that date in your calendar now.

For those that need reminding, the season starts for ALL grades on Saturday 5 April. The Premiers play OBU away, followed by Petone (12 April) and Pōneke (19 April) at home.

We will publish the other grades when they are available.

The first pre-season game, and the only one at home, is on Thursday evening, 13 March against Norths. If you are at a loose end, come down and see how we are tracking. The bar will be open!

Planning for the away trip to Linwood, Christchurch on the weekend of 22 March is well underway. We will be playing three games, including the Premier, Premier Reserve, and Colts. The touring party will be approximately 70, which includes coaches etc.

I attended Paul McEnaney’s memorial service last Friday. There was an excellent turnout of family and friends to celebrate the life of an outstanding friend of Tawa Rugby. In fact his contribution to the wider Tawa community couldn’t be underestimated. People had travelled from near and far to attend and there were a lot of faces that I hadn’t seen for a number of decades!

One such person was Marilyn Norling. She and her husband John ran the Tawa Rugby bar for over 15 years in the 1970s to early 90s. This was when sporting clubs and the RSA were the only places to serve alcohol, so the place was still humming well into the evening. It made Sunday clean up very challenging!

It was good to see Marilyn swapping stories with our current bar manager Charlotte Griffin.

We need your help!

We are looking to update our database to ensure that everyone is getting our newsletter updates. If you know of anyone that is an ex player, coach, administrator, supporter, etc., can you please send their email address to amyvnz@gmail.com or you can sign up here http://www.tawarugby.co.nz/NEWS-1/NEWS-1.

We are also looking for old rugby photos (not necessarily team photos) that we can include in a slide show at Old Timers Day. If you have anything, can you please dust them off, scan them, and send them to amyvnz@gmail.com and we can do the rest.

Until next time. 

Steve Rogers

President