I hope that everybody has had a fantastic summer and you’ve all enjoyed a well-deserved break from rugby and are returning well-refreshed and motivated by the challenges of the new season ahead.

I wanted to say an enormous thank you to the many people who have given up some of their precious ‘lazy lingering days’ to help tidy up the club. You will notice how the whole area around the pitches have been strimmed and cut back while the hoardings around Pitch 1 have all been repaired and repainted. The BBQ area has now also been made weatherproof and tidied up. We are always seeking more volunteers for such vital tasks – please discuss with your friends at the club how you could get together to help.

Moving inside the clubhouse, the changing rooms have been cleaned and repainted. The Wi-Fi has also been repaired to give free access to club members – please ask for the passwords at the bar if you would like to log on. We are also delighted to welcome Graeme Hailes as our new Bar & Catering Manager – he is very excited by the opportunity of helping us all to make the clubhouse a real community hub – an environment where all of us (players, their families & friends and our social members) feel welcome and happy to spend time both pre- and post-matches and throughout the week.

Please look out for notices regarding forthcoming social events including the weekend of 10th / 11th September. Please also let us know of what events and / or facilities you would like to see organised or introduced to further enhance the clubhouse.

The biggest development over the summer has been the new external training area next to the clubhouse. Developed in conjunction with FW Urban Gyms there is a full range of strength & conditioning equipment – details of how you can join the gym are available in the bar.

We have also spent a lot of time seeking to improve the condition of the pitches. WATER DYNAMICS have returned to undertake further work to address the drainage on Pitch 3 – hopefully this will mean that the pitch will remain available all season although obviously this remains dependent on the unpredictable British weather. We have also now erected the new posts that the club won by selling the most RFU Grand Draw tickets last season – thank you to all who bought these.

We were delighted to have been awarded a grant by Sport England to try and address the drainage on Pitch 2 – a huge thank you to Dave Ryan for all his work. Frustratingly, delays in securing the money meant there was insufficient time to undertake the planned work over this summer and so this has been rescheduled for next year. Unfortunately the whole process delayed the re-seeding of the pitch and so the state of Pitch 2 remains a significant concern for 2016/17. The Executive are seeking to develop a Management Plan for this and our other pitches to try to protect these key assets during periods of bad weather – please forgive any inconvenience that may arise while we seek to improve the quality of the playing surfaces on a sustainable basis.

We have also been speaking to RFU, Bracknell Forest Borough Council and Bracknell Town Council regarding further investment and also options regarding additional pitch space in the future. We will keep everybody informed of any news.

Following a challenging year for the 1st XV where we only avoided relegation from National 3 South East in the last few weeks of the season, we are delighted that we have been ‘moved back’ to our natural home in the South West although this will involve some significant away trips down to Devon & Cornwall. Our new coach Dan ap Daffyd has added Dan Leek and club legend Ben Nowak to his team – please come along and support our senior teams at homes games starting next Saturday when our new 1st XV take on Bournemouth.

Welcome back – here’s to a great 2016/17!

Clive Field
Chairman on behalf of BRFC Executive

Executive Committee for 2016/17
Ray Brown – Vice Chairman
Nick Stone – Finance
Steve Ward & Stephen Knight – Commercial
Mark Findlay & Andy Dunks – Facilities
Ian Wilson & Daimon Evans – Minis & Juniors
Martin Radford & Ben Nowak – Rugby

Please note that we are looking for volunteers to join the Committee as we currently have 2 vacancies. If you are able to give up a few hours a week and are interested in the roles of either Honorary Secretary or Communications, then do please let us know.