During my visit to Bangkok I was due to take in the Bangkok 7s but the event was cancelled as part of the 30 days of mourning following the death of the king of Thailand.
As you can see on arrival back in the UK, my President blazer badge which had been on order since July finally arrived so I put it to good use on Friday evening. My wife and I where guest at a dinner given by Darlington RFC to mark the ground development and ground share agreement with Darlington FC.
The guest list also included, Darlington Borough Council Executive, Darlington RFC Management Board, DFC 1883 board, Darlington Building Society, Royal Bank of Scotland, Sport England, Rugby Football Foundation, Football Stadia Improvement Foundation, Jenny Chapman MP, Sue Snowdon HM Lord Lieutenant of Durham and the guest speaker was Peter Barron editor of the Northern Echo.
What was the rugby first team pitch has now been converted into a dual sport stadium with stands terracing and flood lights. Work is still on going with building work on the club house and changing facilities.
I am due to re visit Darlington on 10th of December and will give a progress report then.
Saturday saw me visiting Stockton in their new home for the first time.
They now share a club house with Stockton Cricket club and play their matches across the road at Grangefield College. The rebuild of the college is still in progress as is the development of the rugby playing facilities.
The teams currently use the changing rooms in the college, but when all work is completed the club will have their own changing rooms and sports hall, several pitches and a flood lit training area.
On the field Stockton recent run of good form winning a high scoring contest against second top side S.S.Westoe 39 – 30.
After the match in the new club house there was chance to catch up with a lot of old friends that seem to have been attracted back to the club by the move to the new home.
Stockton seem in good health at present, turning out three senior sides and having teams throughout the full mini and junior age range with a very strong under 16 side which bodes well for the senior sides in the near future.