Pre match RFU Vice President Chris Kelly and I had the pleasure of presenting Value the Volunteer certificates at the annual recognition event. Certificates were presented to volunteers from twenty clubs from the throughout the county and I recognised most of the recipients from seeing them carrying out their excellent work during my visit to their club.
The final award of the evening was to the County Volunteer of the Year. which went to David Carson-White of Hartlepool RFC (aka Old Boys)..
Then it was back home to West Hartlepool for Les Smith's President's Lunch. The original plan was to have just one junior home game in the morning and the President's Lunch in the afternoon - that was all changed by the intervention of Storm Doris.
First Yarm's pitches were flooded which meant that six mini matches had to be transferred to West on the Sunday morning. Then Saturday evening brought a call from RDO Phil Wallis asking if a girls U13 & U15 tournament could also be hosted as the original venue Billingham was waterlogged.
The value of the work done by volunteers was demonstrated in accommodating all those extra matches. This was particularly so for the kitchen team who did amagnificent job including a superb buffet for the President's do.
My thanks to all who worked so hard at short notice to accommodate the extra matches.