PAVIORS IN TOUCH 2 OCT 2020

Despite the difficulties posed by Covid-19 we are carrying on and maximising opportunities at the Club. We now know there will be no competitive rugby until January 2021 but in the meantime the popularity of our inter club O2 Touch thrives. Saturday 24th October sees our fourth tournament which this time includes Walking Touch so a chance for everyone to participate, even Vice Presidents. 2022 gets ever closer and we are determined to deliver the Legacy Project, mentioned in previous editions. Our Girls go from strength to strength and in a couple of weeks Paviors Ladies will have their first training sessions. The new changing rooms will play a vital role in developing female rugby on an equal footing to men. Many of you know Club President Neil Kendrick has just done a great on line quiz raising over £800.00. A great initiative from our latest President and Neil will be bringing his fund raising talents to us all with some great new initiatives to help secure the funds we need to realise this project. It will be the biggest capital project in the history of Paviors, very appropriate to mark our coming Centenary.

On Saturday 31st October George Billam along with brother and First XV Captain Doug, Oli Collingham, Richard Laplanche, Bobbie Ratcliffe and Phil Eggleshaw are attempting the Limey Challenge. It’s a 40 mile hike over the Peake District and they aim to finish it in 16 hours. Club Coach Nathan Eggleshaw and Theo Collier are in the support team for the walk and your support for them would be great. Join them for part of the walk but if you can’t make it you can help swell their fund raising efforts, another joint effort between The Club and the magnificent Maggies at https://www.justgiving.com/crowdfunding/georgebillam?utm_term=9Bw7PWMyY A fantastic response from the Seniors and there is more going off. Clare Raine started a 222 Club last season to raise money for 2022. It was a great success and for this season she has recruited Caroline Johns, Emma Dimmock and Phil Eggleshaw to promote it. You can easily chip in a couple of quid a month on these links 1 x Annual Payment of £24 : https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0003CM1NGKKK 1 x Monthly Payment of £2.00: https://pay.gocardless.com/AL0002MXBMFB99 Di Turner is putting her photographic skills to great use and you can get some fabulous pictures of your kids or partners in time for Christmas. She will be up there at the Touch on Saturday and Sunday training where you can see the full range.

Enter in style in 2022

Does it remind all you VP’s, many of you were elevated to that honoured position because of your efforts in that early development, and Ex-Players of the 70s when we were all flat out raising money to secure our beautiful ground and later fund the building work. The spirit amongst us then was infectious and thanks to your efforts then, we have a fabulous set up now ready to move to the next level. The success we enjoyed securing Burntstump led to fantastic, memorable performances on the pitch and we are currently back at those lofty levels. Today the boot is on the other foot, then we were the Paviors of tomorrow, trying everything to get that much needed cash, and nothing could stop us. Now we can help the Paviors of a new tomorrow enjoy those same emotions and elevate our great Club to new heights. Graham Turner Club Chair PAVIORS THE CLUB OF OUR LIVES

This month two of the most talented players ever to play for the club reflect on their links with the club and the players/coaches who influenced them………. PETER ALDWINKLE Pete pictured before the NLD Cup Final 16th April 1977 (Team picture below) I always feel grateful to Ray Coulton for no doubt influencing my appointment of Head of PE at HPGS (before girls were admitted and sixth form college status which changed much of the historical inheritance of the GS). Ray had massive pride in HPGS rugby tradition and continued to coach the 1st XV leaving me to pull together the second string, which allowed me the opportunity of encouraging those who performed with gusto were but lacking the finesse and strength of players like John Billam, Clive Swinn, Baz Norton and many others including the late Paul Majewski. I must admit I didn't really get to know Paul as well as I would have liked. He was I think, unassuming and very modest, quiet, and introspective, but my respect for him grew on the evidence of Ray Coulton's admiration for Paul's effort and dedication to the first XV. Ray was a good judge of character and if Ray reckoned on Paul's attributes then I knew Paul was a very special member of the HPGS rugby family. I frequently scan the emailing list for Pavs rugby and recognise so many who I either taught at school or played with at Burntstump after moving from Leicester to Nottingham. I had several very enjoyable seasons at Burntstump playing for the rugby team but also playing cricket against Pavs for Calverton, particularly if Terry Lee was hell bent on trying to knock my head off on what I respectfully suggest was not the best batting wicket in the county! I should modestly report as a batsman I hit Terry more times than he hit me as a bowler. Another great Pavior was of course Ron Rossin who did so much for the rugby and club in general. You don't need me to enlarge on his massive contribution. What some may not know is that Ron was an avid fly fisher and I am happy to say that as my guest he caught his first ever trout on a fly under my scrutiny (guidance?). After that he was well and truly hooked. Another stalwart of the pupils of HPGS was the unsung, modest hero Bill Gray who mixed much pleasure into his individual teaching style and approach to schooling and rugby teams. When Ray died, unfortunately far too early, Bill took over the first XV and continued to enthuse so many players with his own inimitable style usually 'with a fag on' and odd socks! Bill continued with the rugby team even when HPGS became a SFC and youngsters such as Paul Day, Nigel Pelling, Pat Billam, Keith Wenbourne and numerous others continued the HPGS high standard of achievement. Unfortunately the pressures of educational reform eventually created a change of emphasis in terms of traditional sports and recreational diversity widened so that rugby standards in the school were always going to struggle.

My tenure with HPGS was a relatively short one, curtailed by the emergence of the SFC reorganisation but I am so happy and proud to have become associated with the school and later its Old Boys club and later Paviors Rugby Club. I hope my ramblings here are received as they are sent - a brief recollection of some of the memories still available for recall inside this active but sometimes forgetful brain of this mid-seventy year old who still gets out jogging 3 times a week, catches numerous trout and some salmon and can still hit a high pheasant or two when required. We are up in Scotland on an already successful salmon fishing week at this moment - Ron would have been pleased. Paviors famously playing in all white beat Market Rasen 22-12 in the NLD Final in 1977 Will Broome My Father was a very good rugby player having played for a strong Bakewell team in the late 1960s, and for Derbyshire. He always likes to remind me of the times that they beat Paviors. I had played mini rugby at Chesterfield until about the age of 11 but went to the National School in Hucknall, which was football mad so never really touched a rugby ball again until the age of 17. A friend of mine who was doing his A-Levels at High Pavement started playing rugby and asked if I wanted to go to training at Pavs. Despite living in Ravenshead, I had no idea Paviors even existed until that point. Training as a 17 year old alongside the first XV containing the likes of Clive and Colin Rossin, a prime big Jack Goodman, Mark Hughes, Mag, Tony Hawkins, Nick Banbury, Moly, Ian Eckloff, Nobby Boulton etc really was a baptism of fire. My first game in a Paviors shirt was in 1989/90 playing on the wing for the Colts, ironically against Bakewell. We had 13 players and lost 65-0. The Colts were run by Jim Hall. Jim was something of a Father figure/Svengali who worked wonders just to get a team on the pitch of a Sunday. We suffered a few more drubbings that season but somehow reached the County Cup final losing to a Mansfield side that contained most of the NLD Colts XV. Eventually, under the captaincy of No 8 Matt Walker we developed into a very good side. First XV hooker Tony Hawkins joined Jim Hall as part of a Clough/Taylor management duo. Tony was held in very high regard by the Colts, he certainly was by me. We again lost to Mansfield in the County Cup, this time narrowly in the semi-final, a match we could/should have won. I don’t think I’ve ever been more disappointed at losing a game of rugby, I would have liked nothing more than to have knocked them off their perch. We came very close to beating Nottingham Colts at Ireland Avenue, which was unheard of. Nottingham expressed an interest in myself

and one or two others going to play for them. On hearing this news then club chairman Mel Sudbury, who was a great advocate of the Colts XV and came to watch us home & away, told me in no uncertain terms that I would NOT be joining Nottingham! I don’t think relations between Nottingham and junior clubs were very rosy back then. I had managed to get into the Nottinghamshire and the NLD U21 teams, tighthead prop Andrew Snowball played for NLD Colts, and went on to have a trial for the Midlands Colts. Simon Colton, Mark Clifford, and Gareth Dixon all played County colts/U21 rugby. So, within 2 years we had gone from getting thrashed on Sunday morning to playing for the 3 Counties, so someone at Paviors was doing some good coaching. Many of us were playing men’s rugby on a Saturday and for the Colts on a Sunday, it was a great learning experience playing for the senior teams. I recall one training session led by then coach Neil Malik that involved groups of us running round the pitch carrying telegraph poles on our shoulders whilst shouting ‘PAVIORS! WIN!’… I’m still not sure why we had to do that. In 1992, I left Nottinghamshire to go to art school in London and joined Rosslyn Park who at that time were playing in the top division of English rugby. Although, as soon as I arrived, they went into freefall and got relegated in successive seasons. I don’t think I’d ever met a public schoolboy until I joined Park, where EVERYONE was a public schoolboy… except me. However, rugby players are rugby players, and they were a great bunch. I was playing 10, and part of an U21 XV containing some really talented players. Nick Walshe & Alex King, who both went on to play for England, were in the squad and a few others went onto to play professional rugby. We beat the likes of Bath, Harlequins, Saracens, Cardiff & Leicester – a victory that included a miracle/fluke 40-yard drop goal by yours truly. To be honest, my greatest achievement at Rosslyn Park was getting into a post-match round with the President, the late great Andy Ripley… also in the round was actor and Rosslyn Park supporter the equally late great Oliver Reed, who was as you might expect, a complete maniac. Oliver’s connection to Park dates back to the 1970s. During this time, he 'kidnapped' the first team who were on the captain’s stag do. The entire first team were AWOL for days at his mansion in Surrey. The story goes that the committee didn't think they'd be able to fulfil the following fixture because they'd not seen or heard of the players all week. On the day when I met Oliver, I had arrived at the ground to see a pristine vintage Rolls Royce parked in one of the VPs parking spaces at the club, I thought “I know everyone is pretty posh at Rosslyn Park, but who's driving that?!’ I've still never seen anyone seemingly compos mentis but also SO drunk as Oliver was. He seemed to be asleep standing up, but then would join back into the conversation without missing a beat. With hindsight, it might’ve been my chat that was making him nod off. Eventually, his chauffeur, who was wearing all the gear right down to a peaked cap had to come and remove him from the player’s bar. Oliver was very polite, said his goodbyes and staggered off into the night. Andy Ripley remains the most charismatic bloke I've ever met and is sadly missed. I still played for Pavs during college holidays. I didn’t really care which team I played for; I was registered to Rosslyn Park anyway so that narrowed the playing options down a bit. I remember getting sent to Bilsthorpe to play for the 3rd or 4th XV. We got changed in the pit baths, with miners coming up off their shift covered in coal dust. I’d been playing at a decent standard and scored a couple of tries in quick succession when the shout from the touchline went up “WILL SOMEONE KILL THAT LITTLE B*STARD !!!” I just shipped the ball on after that. The referee had a fight with the touch judge and the game was abandoned. The week before I’d been playing against Saracens. I went on to play a couple of seasons for Ealing, before dropping back into junior rugby with a team called Grasshoppers in West London . I did manage a game at against the first XV for a Hawkins managed side on Presidents Day in about 1998, and it was nice to play for Tony and to play at Burntstump again. Eventually, I kept breaking my collarbone, which ended my career…. it’s quite hard to be an illustrator with your arm in a sling. Watching the play-off game last season when the first XV got promoted was the first time I’d been to Paviors in 20 years, as I still live in London. It was so great to see so many familiar faces. I think the

thing I took away from it, apart from being very impressed with the level of the rugby on show, was the number of home-grown players playing, sons of blokes I’d played alongside. When other clubs are wasting money paying players, Paviors are busily doing the right thing, and creating their own. I think that the way the mini & juniors section provides a conveyor belt of talent of talent is something that Paviors should be rightly proud of. It’s a great club. Will Broom pictured to the right of captain Matt Walker (centre) IT’S WONDERFUL THAT FORMER PLAYERS SHARE THEIR MEMORIES ABOUT PLAYING FOR THE CLUB.IF YOU WISH TO DO THE SAME JUST CONTACT NEIL ON 07941864115 OR BY EMAIL TO: [email protected]