The meeting was very well attended by the membership and began with a very positive presentation by Dave Waddington and Mike Bretherick who are Principle and Vice Principle of the Hartlepool College of Further Education.

After the presentation which was well received by the members the normal business of the AGM began with reports from the Treasurer, Junior Section and Team Secretary and the nomination of the club officials.

Following the nomination of the officials a proposal for a new management structure was put forward and accepted.

The management structure proposed was as follows:

President - Bill Bowden

Director of Rugby - Alan Ainsley

Financial/Administrative Director - Phil Mitchell

Commercial Director - Darran Atter

Facilities Director - Mick Brough

Club Development Director - John Ainsley

Rugby Development Director - Alby Pattison

The reason behind the creation of the new Management Board is to facilitate a more recognisable, transparent and accountable management team who will deal with taking the club forward, each Director responsible for their primary area working with the other Directors and forming their own standing committees.

Director of Rugby, Alan Ainsley gave a summary of the key roles as follows:

The role of President remains unchanged and is currently combined with the duties of County Representative as have been ably expedited by Bill Bowden for a number of years already.

Director of Rugby - Responsible for all rugby activity at the club specifically managing the day to day activities of the Senior Playing Group and linking with and providing support to the Junior Section

Rugby Development Director - Working alongside the Director of Rugby but dealing more specifically with external governing bodies including The RFU and others such as Sport England.  This role also incoporates the responsibility for all internal and external communications.

Financial/Administrative Director - Working with the Treasurer (Karen Pinchen) with responsibility for the financial wellbeing of the club and ensuring that all legal and regulatory administration is dealt with effectively.

Commercial Director - Responsible for building and maintaining relationships with sponsors, partners and the local business community.

Facilities Director - Responsible for the maintenance, upkeep and ongoing development of all club facilities including the physical fabric of the clubhouse, changing room and stands as well as the playing fields and car park.

Club Development Director - Responsible for identifying and progressing development opportunities for the club.

The club coaching set up for the season ahead was formally confirmed with Jonathan Wrigley in overall control assisted by John Dixon, Craig Lee, Ian Cook and Mick Henderson.  Feedback from the players on the first training session has been very good and shows great promise for the season ahead.