Massive Ash Grove Welcome to all our sponsors and supporters today on this final day of January. Not quite the balmy spring day we had the last time we hosted our guests today Sunbury. I have my fingers crossed for a similar score to last season, with both teams sitting in similar position to the end of January last year.

Please find your matchday programme HERE

I will let our Director of Rugby, Peter Gibson, cover the playing side of the day. I would like to rally you all behind the club and behind my Chairmanship for what could be a challenging but exciting couple of years.

Rugby as a whole is at a crossroads. The national game is thriving, but professional clubs are all in the red, and the community game lurches from one hiatus to another. Traditional County structures are being merged and we live with the demise of the game in state schools.

However, I am happy to report that Amersham & Chiltern RFC is in rude health. We have continued to regrow our minis and juniors sections back to pre-Covid levels, our Colts are flying, our Women’s section are playing and having fun winning games. Our senior section is attracting our students back to the club and our teams are playing at the highest levels we have ever played.

This is only possible because of our sponsors and our volunteers. It costs £100,000 to run a senior section of a club in Level 5 of the league the 1st XV are in. We are competing against teams in the same league that are spending double what we do. We have aspirations to make it into National Leagues which will require more funding and deeper pockets. This ambition was beyond us until now.

However, we have a strong and robust plan to make Ash Grove into an exciting new hub for community sport in Amersham that centres around rugby but that is open to all. We will have more facilities, longer opening hours and provide a range of sports that cater for a wider demographic in the local area.

We hope that you can join us on this journey and continue your amazing support. The club is your club. Make it work for you. I have loved what it offers since I joined nearly 20 years ago. Our second century needs to be one of progress. It may feel slow at the moment, but slow progress is still Progress.

I will be keeping an eye on the score from afar. Apologies I can’t be with you but have a great day with your host for the day Peter Osborne.

Andy Saunders
Chairman