News

              BI-MONTHLY NEWS LETTER NOVEMBER 2018

Dear Patron

Here is the first attempt of the bi-monthly newsletters promised in my circular of August 6^th 2018. We are not attempting to compete with Fleet Street but merely trying to keep you updated with club activities.

Rugby

The first XV are playing in WRU East Central 2 and are currently in 5^th position after having played six games.

The results to date are:

Barry RFC 35            Taff’s Well RFC 32

St Peter’s RFC 23     Barry RFC 7

Barry RFC 34            Abercwmboi RFC 35

Llanishen RFC 5        Barry RFC 20

Barry RFC 48             Cardiff Quins RFC 24

Barry RFC 37            Aberdare RFC 21

The next game is a home game against Llantwit Fadre RFC on Saturday 10^th November. As this is the same day as Wales play Australia we have been sanctioned an early Kick Off of 13.00.

It is also the day of our first patron’s day of three planned, when you are all invited to attend the game and join us for a buffet and drinks afterwards. We hope as many of you as possible will attend at least one of these days.

This season, the 2^nd XV have had difficulties getting started because of Injuries and players being called up for first XV duty, but they gave a good account of themselves recently narrowly losing in a cup game to a strong St Peter’s outfit.

At the end of last season, the possibility of fielding a strong youth XV looked certain but unfortunately there has been difficulty in getting a team together due to lads having to work on a Saturday.

The Ladies Section has also had difficulties with girls moving to other clubs, but a couple of stalwarts have stayed on and they are intent on forming a new side in the near future.

As always we have a strong Mini and Junior section and this is good to see because after all they are the future of our club.

Membership

As in all sports, the income derived from Club Membership plays a vital role in ensuring that the Club can continue to provide Rugby in the town for all sections of the community whether it be on the field of play or in a supportive role.

With costs both on and off the field increasing year by year, your continued patronage plays a huge part in this and the Club is hugely grateful to you for your support.

As a Committee however, we feel that we don't go far enough in keeping you updated with what's happening at the Club. To help address this, we have made efforts to update our records and as you are now aware, from this newsletter, we are now in a position to contact you electronically via email to improve the communication between us.

As a next move we shall be adding Patrons details to the Club Facebook Page, called Barrian’s Rugby, so you will be able to access information relating to the Club on a daily basis.

Please remember, that as a patron of the Club you are entitled to apply for International Tickets.

This seasons home internationals are as you are well aware, are against England and Ireland. If you are interested in tickets for either or both of these games, then applications should be sent by email to deanneham@ntlworld.com no later than 30th November 2018.

Finance

The annual bar sales and profit for the year ended 31 May 2018 were £93k and £10.4k respectively.  Whilst bar sales continued the downward trend we (and indeed many other clubs) have seen in recent years, we have been able to increase our profit by over £6k. 

Membership subscriptions – including Patrons – were £14.2k and make a very significant contribution to the sustainability of the club.

Overall Sponsorship and Advertising income increased once again with the addition of a number of new sponsors in Ken’s Chows Channing Dental Practice, Grosvenor Casino and VOG Fire and Security.  Pinit and Sears Davies also continued their long-standing commitments to the club. 

We are very grateful for the support of all patrons, members and sponsors.

At 31 May 2018 the club’s bank and cash balances totalled £46,100.  This compares to £37,100 at the end of May 2017 and £36,000 at end of May 2016.

We have recently secured a 25-year extension of our lease from the Vale of Glamorgan Council on the clubhouse at a nominal rent of £100 pa.

We do, however, face considerable uncertainty going into 2019 with the Council’s proposals for changing their charging arrangements for the upkeep and use of the pitches from April 2019.  The club currently pays a hire fee on an “as used basis”.  The council is now proposing to either charge us what they deem to be their full maintenance costs or alternatively we will have to make our own arrangements for the maintenance. 

Based on the figures in the Council’s report, we could not possibly afford to pay the Council for the ongoing maintenance which will leave us having to source our own arrangements.  This will, however, still result in a significant increase in our running costs.

We are currently exploring whether a community asset transfer (by way of a lease of the pitches from the Council) would be viable.  Regrettably to date the Council have offered very little support in this. 

With the support of the WRU, we are in the process of incorporating the club and we will in due course convene an Extraordinary General Meeting of members to approve the same.

Obituary

This year we said goodbye to an old stalwart of the club in Ivor Morgan. Ivor started his playing career in the 1940’s and continued well into the 1950’s. After hanging his boots up, he continued to serve the club in the role of trainer. Many of us older members will remember the cold sponge on the back of the neck and his cheeky sense of humour which seemed to be the cure for everything. His contribution to the club both on and off the field was immense and he has rightly earned his place in the annals of this club because without him and those who have gone before him we would not have the great club we have today.

Yours in rugby

Colin (Ham)

Chairman