Keswick Rugby Club held its senior players presentation evening at its Davidson Park clubhouse on Friday last. Turnout was excellent, with over 90 players, helpers, committee members and partners attending and treated to an excellent meal courtesy of Jeremy Hall. With the 1st XV winning the Cumbria League with promotion to Level 6 and the Colts winning their Halbro NW Colts League, whilst the 2nd XV came fifth at their first attempt in the County Courier Services Division 2 North, there was plenty to celebrate.

First XV Captain Aaron Thompson started events with presentations on behalf of the players to some of those who had helped throughout the season. Mentions went to Allan Lambert for the match reports and Ben Challis for his photography, samples of which were on screen throughout the evening. Heather Dunn, Chris Norman and Debbie Sains were thanked for their dedicated physio and first aid work throughout the season. John Clarke and team were thanked for preparing excellent playing surfaces, as were the bar staff for their hard work throughout.

With such a high standard of play across all teams competition for the various awards was fierce and some serious contenders were unlucky to miss out as the winners were announced in inimitable fashion by Coach Richard Metcalf. Presentations were made by Club Secretary Liz Weightman. Best craic award went to Craig Fairclough who also picked up the most improved player trophy; for the Colts, most improved player was Isaac Pitchford. Colts spectators’ player of the year was shared by Nathan Relph and Ryan Lamb with the coaches’ award going to Jake Graves. Seniors young player of the year award went to Will Addyman, who as well as playing for Keswick found time to captain Cumbria Under 18s. Top try scorer for the Colts was Eddie Mawson, with Ryan Weir picking up top try scorer for the seniors.

Second XV players’ player of the year was shared by Jake Winter and James Addyman; Colts’ players’ player of the year was Christian Fidoe. As with his hat tricks of tries on the field, Ryan Weir picked up his second and third trophies of the evening by being both 1st XV players’ player of the year and the Club’s player of the year.

Jamie Mckenzie was presented with a 300 tie, having achieved an impressive 325 appearances for the club and Aaron Thompson received a 200 tie for his 210 appearances.

After the presentations the traditional entertainment from the players kept everyone amused as Queen, John Travolta & Olivia Newton-John, Tiny Tempah, Nicky Minaj and Frank & Nancy Sinatra were judged X Factor style by a specially selected panel. In true ‘there are no losers’ tradition, every contender scored the maximum of 4 x 5’s. Oli Clark, Matty Newton, Christian Sellars, Mollie Coldham, Will Addyman, Joel Fidoe, Jonny Miller and Vicky Seymour, thank you all very much, but don’t give up the day jobs just yet!

Easter tours are now just a memory for older players unfortunately, but all is not lost as a group of senior players are going to County Cork in May to play 2 games against Irish opposition. The squad of 25, with some non-playing supporters have a game with Highfield RFC in Cork on Saturday 18th May and Kinsale RFC on Sunday 19th. And further afield, club member Ben Pepper is currently studying for a PhD in Brazil where he has joined Guasca Rugby Club in Porto Alegre. He will be playing for them for a further 3 years as he completes his studies and he has presented them with a Keswick club shield; hopefully more formalised links can be established.

The photo shows Ben Pepper presenting the Guasca Rugby Club Captain with a Keswick shield.