The Club held the 2024 AGM on Wednesday 19th June.

There were a few events which impacted on attendance (Highland Show and Scotland v Switzerland in the Euros) but there was still a decent attendance to ensure business was carried out correctly.

Secretary Mike Booth ran the meeting efficiently, introducing the various committee members who were providing reports. Unfortunately Treasurer Nigel Pacey was unwell and unable to attend and so Mike ran through the most important points of the Treasurer's report, along with other reports from others who were also unavailable.

The full AGM Minutes in Draft Form (they will remain in Draft form until the 2025 AGM) are now posted below along with the Playing Reports from the section Convenors. These are all thoughtful and well constructed and give a clear insight into the work being undertaken by the army of volunteers who give of their time freely - we would be much the poorer without their input and so on behalf of Biggar RFC, please take a bow and accept our grateful thanks for all your support.

AGM 2024

Biggar Rugby Football Club Charity Number: SC 047700

ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING

Annual General Meeting of Biggar Rugby Football Club is to be held in The Clubhouse, Hartree Mill Sports Ground on Wednesday 19^th of June 2024 at 7.30 pm.

The business of the Annual General Meeting shall be:

AGENDA

1. Welcome and approval of attendees eligible to vote, proxies and apologies. (Page 2)

2. Appointment of Tellers (Page2)

3. Minutes of the 2023 Annual general Meeting and Matters Arising. (Page2)

4. President’s Report on the activities of the club. (Page3,4)

5. Treasurer’s Report, including report from the independent financial examiner and appointment of an independent financial examiner for financial year 2024/2025.

(Page5,6)

6. Development & other Playing Reports (Attached addendum)

7. Short- and Medium-Term Strategy for the Club. (Page 6, 7)

8. Note from the Trustees (Page 7)

9. Fixing of Annual Subscriptions. (Page8, 9)

10. Election of Trustees and Officers of the Club. (Pages 9, 10)

11. Election of any Honorary Members (Page10)

12. AOCB (Page10)

13. Incoming Presidents thanks to President and statement. (Page 10)

1. Welcome and approval of attendees eligible to vote, proxies and apologies.

Quorum

Secretary (M Booth) found there to be over 20 voting members present – the meeting was deemed “quorate”. (See attendance sheet)

Proxies

M Booth confirmed that we do not have any PROXY VOTES this evening, as none were lodged by the due date and time.

Motions

M Booth confirmed that no motions have been proposed.

Declaration of Conflicts of Interest

No conflicts were declared.

Apologies

Andrew Howatson, Bob Drife, I Notman, Julia Miller, Kev Robison, Roger Walker, Euan Sanderson, Catriona Malone, Colin Plenderleith, N Pacey, Andy Jardine

2. Appointment of Tellers

G. Watson and A Stewart were appointed as tellers

3. MINUTES OF THE 2023 ANNUAL GENERAL MEETING Matters arising – No matters.

Proposer for the minutes – H Barr Seconder for the minutes – A Stewart

4. President’s Report on the activities of the club.

Good evening ladies and gentlemen,

Welcome and thank you all for attending our club AGM, a place and time to hear all our annual reports and an opportunity for you to ask any questions or query any decisions taken by the committee.

As I stand here tonight my heart is filled with a mix of gratitude pride and a certain hint of sadness as I mark the end of my tenure as president of this amazing wee rugby club. It has been an extraordinary journey one that I have not only cherished but one that has brought many mixed emotions.

The men's first XV had an unprecedented start to last season losing the first seven games in a row both home and away, although some with the smallest of margins. Being plagued with injuries, concussions, stag parties and weddings earlier in the campaign only helped to compound our problems. We eventually turned a corner and got back to winning ways with the help of returning injured key players, Luhann Kotze, Owen McLeish, Robbie Orr and also with Craig Borthwick pulling his boots back on to play through the pain barrier, stabilise the scrum and offer a steadying yet intimidating presence on the field. The weather started to cause postponement of games before Christmas hence extending the playing season beyond where it was meant to be.

While relegation started to look like a huge possibility, the boys came good in the end and made

it into a safe 7th league position with critical wins over Watsonians and Gala at home in some of the closing fixtures. I only missed two 1^st XV games all season, 1 due to a biennial trip to Cardiff for the 6 nations and the other, the rearranged fixture when I travelled to Rome. I was certainly very pleased that we avoided relegation on my humble watch. In doing so however it caused some real disruption for the 2nd XV with players being pulled up to the firsts on a fairly regular basis, so well-done Craig Whitefield and Doug Roper for dealing with that harsh reality and still managing to put a team out where possible. The 2nd XV thankfully also made it safe and avoided any relegation from their league. The men's first 15 Houston amazing 53 players during the season and 10 young players got their first 15 debut.

The ladies also had a fantastic season, missing out on promotion to the premier league by 1 solitary bonus point, allowing Ayr to clinch that spot. I witnessed all the ladies home games and enjoyed the skill and intensity of the challenges as well as the dogged way in which they won with some huge results. They went on to win the national shield final at Murrayfield against West in a fantastic game with huge support from the club. Congratulations to them and their coaches.

The youth Teams also had a great success throughout and especially the under 18 and under 16 girls who both won their respective national cups at Murrayfield another fantastic achievement and testament to their coaches as well as the club hyper and Academy staff. We have huge numbers taking part at all ages, the future looks good.

I would like to thank every coach involved at all levels, all convenors of all age groups, the community coaches, Nic and Donald at the Academy and Gym, Groundsman, gate attendants, bar staff, parents and everyone who makes the quad tick on game days. A special thanks to our safeguarding officer, Louise Storie who does a very busy and professional job sorting out all kinds of awkward issues within the club.

We are now in a state of transition at Biggar RFC with a change of DOR and a new 1st XV coach set up. Nick Humphries takes on the role of DOR forming a new management and coaching structure and I’m sure we all wish him well on this journey and I’ll let him explain his plans himself later.

And like to offer a huge thanks to Ian Notman and Ian Warnock for their hard work and input over the last 10 years or so as director of rugby and 1st 15 manager. It's not until you are working close with people that you appreciate all the work and research that goes into these roles. I also want to offer a huge thanks to the outgoing coaching team of Davie Wilson, Doug Flemming and Craig Borthwick – although Craig remains as part of the new set up - for their endless hours of training and travelling to games over the last few seasons, winning championships and healthy league standings along the way. David Wilson being part of two championship seasons and Doug being part of three having coached the seconds to a championship a few seasons ago, a fantastic record in anybody's career and well done both. I wish them both all the best in their new coaching roles, Davy as head coach of Watsonians and Doug head coach at Strathaven, probably assisted by Aird Jardine.

Our club has been punching for many years now and producing great players along the way. Fergus Watson and Ryan Whitefield both being capped at under 20s level, Emma Orr continuing to start for Scotland ladies and six or so U18 Girls playing for Scotland and 8 or so U16’s playing in an international event at Gala. A fantastic representation from our modest little club with the biggest of heart.

Congratulations and thanks also go to the finance and project team of Nigel, Gordon and Peter for driving the construction of the new gym and clubhouse extension. The gym is currently being fitted out and will open soon as an amazing addition to our facilities, to be used by some club members and the community. The clubhouse extension can clearly be seen by all and is very much a work in progress, but it will hopefully be completed in the next couple of months. Both units are costing the biggest part of £1,000,000 and it is a fantastic undertaking giving us possibly the best club facilities in Scotland and beyond.

Final thank you’s go to our long-suffering secretary Mike Booth for his never-ending work and

service to the club, the committee, all the trustees, Annie Porteous for putting flowers and

sweets in the small lounge every home game and for her great personal support, Nigel as

treasurer and of course the many and loyal members and supporters who travel near and far to

the games. Also, to James Orr for having nominated me as his vice president two years ago.

Over my tenure I've enjoyed many lunches, made lots of new friends and acquaintances, faced

challenges and celebrated triumphs. As I now pass the ball onto Gordon, I’m fairly confident that

the future of the club is in capable hands. I encourage you all to continue to support the cause

and to uphold the values that make this club something special. Thank you for entrusting me

with the privilege of serving as your president, I have been involved with the club ever since its

formation 49 years ago and look forward to celebrating the 50th anniversary with you all next

May the 23rd. It has been an honour and a privilege, and I hope the club continues to flourish for

many years to come.

Thank you all.

R Ramsay

5. Treasurer’s Report, including report from the independent financial examiner and appointment of an independent financial examiner for financial year 2024/25

Biggar Rugby Football Club Company Limited by Guarantee Trustees' Annual Report (Incorporating the Director's Report) (continued) Year ended 31 March 2024

As in the previous reporting period this year has seen us invest significantly in the facilities at Hartree Mill Sports Grounds, as well as having a successful trading year. The works this year are the building of a new gym and the much-needed expansion of the clubhouse facilities. The works will span 2 financial years and so the full value won't appear in the club assets until we report in a years' time. The inclusion of so much "restricted" income which can only be spent on projects for which grant, or fund-raising activities have contributed, makes the accounts more difficult to interpret and follow. The investment last year and the need to adopt a prudent depreciation policy has resulted in the accounts showing a significant increase in depreciation. Whilst this is necessary it does contribute to the accounts initially showing a net reduction in our overall trading position of approx. £5k. However, when the value of the work being undertaken through the restricted funds element is considered this shows a vast increase in our overall position when compared to last year. The forthcoming year will see more major changes as the restricted funds are spent and the expenditure adds to the asset value of the club. What will change is our cash position that is currently very healthy in both general and restricted funds and the Trustees and Committee agreed that it was right to proceed with the current building works at the expense of draining our cash reserves. We believe that based on our recent trading history that if we do drain our cash reserves or have to borrow to complete the project then these will be replenished to current levels over a 3–4-year period. We have continued to see our base running costs rise as inflation ran at a high-level last year. Energy was one of biggest increases in expenditure, although will hopefully show a reduction in the coming year as energy prices have fallen. Our PV-Battery system has proved an asset and has helped reduce our energy costs, albeit the new hot water system, which the players all benefit from, is using more energy but at least all players now get a hot shower. Thanks must go to Mike Booth and Keith Dunlop who gave their time to install the new heating system last summer. The significant restricted funds income is because of two successful applications to the Clyde Wind Farm Fund, both the original fund administered by SLC and the Extension element by SSE. In addition, the club undertook its own fundraising effort through the "Buy a Brick" scheme and also received some significant donations which enabled the project to start. The overall grants from the CWFF total £800,000 and the donations, gift aid our own Fund Raising have raised approx. £150,000. The combined efforts of our work to minimise our costs, manage our staff and facilities well and seek and apply for grant funding, has again resulted in a trading surplus when reviewing our general day to day trading. The support from both the club and the community in terms of volunteers remains strong, and we have witnessed active support across all the teams from many of the club's members, thus embodying the club motto of One Club - One Family. Similarly, the local community support through sponsorship has remained healthy and we are grateful that this demonstrates the community ethos that the club has developed. Also, the support we receive through SRU funding for travel, player improvement, our Community Coach programme and other elements is much appreciated.

Plans for future periods - The trustees and management committee recognise the invaluable support of members and parents of our youth section in ensuring that these sections of the club continue to thrive and provide a stream of players into the senior teams. The management committee and trustees give their time to manage the overall affairs of the club. We estimate around 3,500 hours has been spent by the 20+ committee members and 6 trustees in the management of the club in the last 12 months. Financial review After generating a surplus last year, it's very pleasing that we can again report a good trading position from the last 12 months activities. We continue to earmark a significant amount of our income for our Development and Academy programmes that benefit the youth sections of the club, and this is where our largest membership base exists. Biggar RFC Limited, which is the trading company owned by the Charity, has had a successful year under the management of Gordon Young, and will make further donations to the club as the year progresses. The shop on the High Street continues to trade reasonably well but has not quite covered its costs this year, whilst its value as a focal point on the High Street, is impossible to value, it would bring far greater benefits to the club if it was able to be open more.

Reserve’s policy - The reserves policy established by the Trustees and Management Committee previously set aside funds of £50,000 to cover running costs and ensure we can manage through a short-term financial crisis, should one occur. In early 2022 the trustees agreed to increase the reserve amount by £75,000 to aid the planned clubhouse expansion project. During the period 23-24 the trustees agreed that if necessary, the Project Management team for the building works could utilise all the clubs current cash reserves if if required to complete the project and also authorised a loan agreement with RBS for up to £100k should it be required to complete the works. On behalf of the Trustees, Management Committee and all members, thanks to everyone who have contributed and made this a year such a success for Biggar Rugby Football Club.

6) Development & other Playing Reports.

Please note all section reports for the year are attached to these minutes as a separate document. These can all be seen at the end of this main AGM report.

7. Short- and Medium-Term Strategy for the Club.

Project Status

After 40+ years working on project development it’s clear that working with BRFC on something this major, is a totally new experience, adopting a new concept of not design and build but let’s amend the design mid build!! Also, for those of you familiar with the just in time principle of procurement and delivery, you will not have witnessed anything like our approach, which stretches this to its limit!!

Thanks must go to Gary Murray of DTA Architects for his patience and assistance with the design and re-designs of the project and Johnny Kinloch who has led the building team.

Despite these challenges and one of the wettest periods we have seen, we nearly have a complete gym, flooring and equipment are being laid this week and the main entrance should be fitted next week.. Our target for opening it is mid-July after a couple of weeks of testing. We will deliver it just under budget, our estimated final spends including the fit out is approx. £400k, and it will deliver a fantastic facility for player development at the club, across all ages, alongside a general-purpose gym for the community.

The clubhouse extension is making good progress as you can see, it still has a long way to go but our aim is to have it fully enclosed and tidied up by mid-August and have formed the links to the existing clubhouse by the start of the first match, regrettably we don’t think we will complete it until October but are working as hard as we can to get it finished and brought into use ASAP. As with the gym we are keeping a close eye on expenditure and whilst currently on budget, we have looked at some areas where we hope to save some money. If we can get the superstructure completed over the next 6-8 weeks and the scaffolding dismantled we will be a lot happier.

Thanks to all our contractors and suppliers who have worked with us to deliver both elements of the project at what should be, exceptional value. Our funders continue to be supportive and have assisted with releasing funds as required ensuring a positive cash flow throughout the project.

Longer Term Strategy

The committee feels that previous Club Development Strategy work done in 2022 remains pertinent -whilst some goals remain to be achieved a large majority of the goals have been, or soon will be, met.

There remains work to be done towards seeing our senior teams in the topflight of club rugby. A great deal of thanks to those who, in the past few years have striven towards these goals and have kept the standards we have become accustomed too. We enter a new era of coaching this season and their goals remain the same.

Bill Watson asked if the committee had done any work on projecting future income – basically to see if we would be able to fund playing in the Premiership should we reach it.

As the major works begin to settle down the committee along with the trustees will commit time to projecting income from the new buildings along with our usual streams of income. The committee will also look at how these incomes can be best managed.

8) Note from the Trustees

A Porteous and A Stewart retiring as will R Ramsay as he steps down as President.

I Conn and D Low remain in place.

James Orr and Morag Dunlop were nominated

No other nominees were lodged – no requirement for vote, no objections.

I Conn gave a brief note on the work of the Trustees over the year. They have been involved in overseeing the finances of the project work and will continue to do so over the next financial year.

9) Fixing of Annual Subscriptions.

The Committee seeks AGM approval of Membership Fees for the season 2024 – 25 as per the schedule below.

The committee make the following points:

• The new Gym and Clubhouse extension will create an improved experience for all members, however there are increased running costs, including the recruitment of a Gym Manager

• Costs have risen significantly in the past year and are expected to continue rising over the coming year.

• The committee believes fees at this level remain good value to members and are consistent with our peers.

The Committee seeks AGM approval of Membership Fees for the season 2024 – 25 as per the schedule below.

I Conn voiced concern over Gym only members having voting rights and cited occasions where other clubs had fallen foul of offshoots of the club “taking over” the committee. It was decided that Gym only memberships would not be voting members of the club and that over future years a differential in pricing would be made to ensure Gym only members were paying less than Club + Gym membership.

The membership Form will be amended accordingly.

The pricing was not objected to and was unanimously carried.

10. Election of Trustees, President, Vice-President, and Officers of the Club.

Trustees as per list in section 8

9 The position of “Comms and Social Media Officer” is unfilled.

The position of Fixture Secretary needs filling with some urgency.

Yellow Highlighted are the only new or moving members

The President and Committee wish to thank all those retiring members for their service to the club and welcome new members for committing their time.

11. Election of any Honorary Members

None

12. AOCB

No other business was tabled

12. Incoming Presidents thanks to President and statement.

My thanks to Rab for a very successful tenure as President and all his hard work for the club and not just over these last 2 years.

I’m delighted to have been selected to be President especially over the 50-year anniversary celebrations. I notice that there are 5 members form 49 years ago still here tonight, a great achievement.

We have a lot to look forward to over these next 2 years and I hope that the completion of the Gym and the new Club extension will future proof the club for many years after that.

Many thanks for coming Gordon Young

The meeting closed at 20.30 hrs

Playing Section reports from Convenors and Coaches

BIGGAR RFC MICROS & MINI AGM REPORT
SEASON 2023/2024

BIGGAR BAIRNS

Biggar Bairns covers children age 3-5 and continues to see between 15-20 children attending each week and around 36 registered in spond which we introduced this season to help improve management of the Bairns. Ben Waine is moving up to micros coaching next season and Rachel Taylor is stepping down so the club will employ the community coaching team to run this in season 2024/25. Biggar Bairns continues to run on a pay per session basis charging £3 per session and we introduced more regular reporting and pay ins during 2024. Biggar Bairns will restart at the same time as the micros and minis for next season.

MICROS

We have approx. 25 players attending matches and training each week although we have 47 names on the register. We will have approximately 19 players moving up to play P4 rugby next season, of which there are 12 regular players.

P1/2s enjoyed a good season maintaining good player numbers with 8 P1s & 18 P2s. High numbers for two coaches, but we have a couple of regular parent helpers we are hoping to sign up as coaches for next season. We lost a couple of players pre-Christmas which I'm sure the weather at the time played a large part in so we would like to make more extensive use of the new indoor facilities earlier in the season. We had three new players start around Easter & unfortunately due to the amount of away festivals they haven't returned. We enjoyed lots of festivals/ tournaments & regularly took enough kids for two teams with extras as subs. Moffat, Lanark, Strathaven & Livingston all stood out as well run & enjoyable with some good wins under our belt. Our lowest point was at Boroughmuir, who announced as we took to the pitches that we would be playing Hawick ball. Two years of trying to coach run forward, pass back gone in 5 minutes!! Challenges for this group for the coming season will be around sufficient coaches for the group and something we will need to try & get the message out about to assist Ben coming up from the Bairns to this group. To finish, an hour spent with these kids on a Sunday morning generally leaves us with a smile on our faces & I think the same can be said for the kids.

The new season will see new coaches joining as P1 coaches and we are in the process of having 3 new coaches undergo PVG checks before the start of the season. Angela Still will continue as micros coordinator and Alison Howie will take on the role of coordinator for the P1/2s next season.

P3s had good numbers this season and had a fantastic end to the season finishing overall age group winners at both the Moffat and Strathaven festivals. Coaches are looking forward to them breaking into their own P4 team next year where they will develop further and introduce contact to their game.

P4

A fantastic season for our P4 group with some 25 players representing the club. Throughout the year we have only lost 2 of these players - 1 as they moved away, and 1 who just wasn’t taking well to contact rugby. The first year of contact rugby always brings its challenges but the vast majority of the children took to the game exceptionally well. Coaches have worked with individual players throughout the season to build their confidence in contact.

On the pitch we have had several strong festivals / games. As much as possible, we take 2 teams to festivals to maximise playing time and opportunities for all youngsters. We have settled on always entering 2 teams of a similar standard, as this seems to benefit and push on all players. This has started to come to fruition with the teams finishing 1st and 2nd at the Moffat festival, and 2nd and 3rd at the Strathaven Festival. Some of our best, most physical games this year have been between the ‘Biggar Blacks’ and the ‘Biggar Reds’. We look forward to seeing the strength of this team in the years to come.

P5

Lots of positives to take from this season. Our numbers have been very good both with an average player count of around 16 players and 4 coaches. Coach wise we were lucky to get Ian Munro joining us who brings lots of previous rugby experience. He's been really good and brings coach numbers to 4 which is needed when we have full numbers and allows coverage when coaches have other commitments. The P5s trained on the first Tuesday of the month again this season.

Overall the season was average to good. While we didn't win any tournaments, we did win plenty of matches. It was sometimes hard to juggle our numbers at tournaments and that often made the team disjointed. We do have some excellent players, and if we were to put out a core team every week we would certainly have won more, but that's not what we wanted to do.

It is noticeable in matches that our team plays "good rugby", moving the ball out to wide channels through the hands. This has been commented on by other coaches. This is something we are keen to continue next year. All coaches continuing next year in P6. Hopefully more players too. 

P6

We are a fairly unique team in that we haven't got a huge squad like other age groups and the numbers are split fairly equally across boys and girls. They are so gelled as a team that we don’t see boys favour passing to girls and vice versa and as a result we receive many comments from other coaches about how good a team they are to watch.

Main reflections have been the team building through the season; honing their jackling, rucking, tracking as a team, rushing opponents, utilising their individual strengths. The players have absorbed the core belief that all rugby balls are “their ball” and they all go out steal it back whenever anyone else has it. Another statistic to call out is our ability to hold up players up over the line with around 8 this season which shows how well they play as a team and think nothing of putting their body on the line to stop the team losing a try. As a collective they have tuned into each other and this has been great to watch through the year.

We have met challenging opponents from across the country and whilst we’ve been regularly praised for our politeness and rugby spirit, we’ve also been inundated with comments of our skill set, passion and collective spirit. In every tournament we have been in the top 2 teams and without doubt have been consistently the best rugby playing side demonstrating fine technique and passing, despite the physical advantages of most other teams dominated by boys – notable mentions for performances in East Kilbride, Boroughmuir and Watsonians.

The whole season culminated in winning the Moffat Tournament. Despite recently losing one of our best to a broken wrist the team took to the pitch for the final against the only other unbeaten side. We responded to a highly physical team, collectively shut the opposition down, frustrated them and kept driving on. By the end they came out victorious with their exhausted and exhilarated faces wonderful to see - we were so proud of what they’d done.

We wish to mention Michael Russell's impressive effort as performance coach and Brian Thomas's unique motivational attributes - both inspirational and the kids absorb it. Major challenge for next season will be to increase the number of boys playing in P7 as at the end of the season 63% of players were female.

P7

The P7's have had a very successful 2023-2024 season, the highlight of which was winning both the Moffat and East Kilbride tournaments. The success of this has been helped in no small measure by our academy training and also our extra week night training sessions.

We have 26 players so have a good strong squad, however we are losing 5 fantastic players who now move over to the girls U14 team. We wish them well and know they will go on to thrive. We are hopeful that we will be able to enlist more boys into our U13 team to bolster numbers. We have been fortunate to welcome a few new members during this season.

Thank you to our coaches John Wyllie, Bryan Cathcart, Julia Miller and more recently Andrew Bell for their hard work this season and a special mention goes to Julia for her dedication as she takes a step back from frontline coaching but will continue to take an active role in supporting the U13 team next season.

Summary

This season saw us starting with 74 children playing micros/mini rugby and this grew to 112 active players and a total of 118 paid memberships. The growth is due largely to the work the community coaches have been doing to recruit new players across primary schools in the area as well as a bit of word of mouth. Observations are that micro numbers drop when playing away matches and during the winter months and we will benefit greatly from the new indoor space in the coming season. We used the sports centre for Biggar Bairns and micros from the start of Dec until the end Feb which helped keep numbers up and are considering fewer away matches and more trainings for the micros next season.

Next season we hope to continue to see the same playing numbers returning and we will need to focus on recruiting numbers across all age groups but in particular in the P7 age group where we have more girls than boys playing and squad numbers are fairly low in this age group.

Our mini festival was a great success at the start of the season after missing out the year before. We had some really tough opposition this season with invitations from more borders sides than in previous years as well as invites from Watsonians, Boroughmuir and Dumfries. All proved good experiences for us. The highlight of the season was winning the Moffat tournament at many of our age groups and winning the overall trophy.

All coaches across the Micros and Minis continued to do a fantastic job and creating such a great sense of community within their teams. We also need to thank the team co-ordinators for their help and organisation to make everything run smoothly throughout the season. We also appreciate the sometimes long distances particularly this past few months when we were asked to play more away matches due to the construction works at the club. We continue to turnout excellent numbers compared with other clubs of our size at every festival and fixture we have. We welcomed and have supported 3 new players from Syria into the club as well this season thanks to Calum Taylor and continue to see them thrive. We look forward to welcoming them back again next season.

The micros and mini season was rounded off with the awards and fun day on Sunday 19^th May with almost 140 children participating and along with parents and siblings attending the awards followed by an afternoon of games, soak the coach, tombola, kit swap and bouncy castle fun as well as the annual parents v players touch match!

Best regards

Trina Malone, Mini Convenor

BIGGAR RFC 2023/2024 END OF SEASON MIDI REPORT BY LAURA WATSON (MIDI CONVENOR)

The first half of the season up to December saw Biggar U13’s and U14’s participate in festival type fixtures where one club would host and another 3 clubs would participate. It was up to the hosting club how they wanted to run these festivals. They were generally well attended and it was a good way to get everyone playing and decent game time.

The U15’s and U16’s participated in a West Region League playing against clubs like Whitecraigs, East Kilbride, Lanark, Loch Lomond, Greenock Wanderers, Oban Lorne, Waysiders/Drumpellier and GHK. The U16’s also participated in the National Youth Plate competition where they had 3 games playing against Greenock Wanderers, Jed Thistle and CQP/Cambuslang. They got to the quarter-final of the National Youth Bowl competition in November against Aberdeen Wanderers and after a very close game, we were unfortunately defeated 12-8. The second half of the season the U15 and U16’s were entered into the West Youth Cup Competition and U13 and U14 had friendlies arranged.

S1s (U13)

S1 started the season with 16 players and ended with 18 with some of those unable to play each weekend due to other commitments. The team had 3 coaches (David Murray, Brian Gilchrist and Douglas Notman) involved with the team. Eliz Gilchrist is the team administrator. All are staying on to next season. We will need a recruitment drive for this age group, as they will move up to 15 a side next season. Hopefully some new players will come from Carluke and Lanark.

End of season awards occurred 15-May-2024: Coaches Player Cal Humphries, Players Player Jamie Mackie, Most Improved Player Finlay Scott and Biggar Spirit Angus Henderson.

S2s (U14)

The S2s have 23 players. Two coaches (Stuart Plenderleith and Euan Lawrie) are currently involved with the team. Anita Baskerville is the team administrator. All are staying on to next season and also Stuart Harrison will be added to the coaching team.

End of season awards occurred 28-Apr-2024: Players Player Bailey Cook, Most Improved Player Edmund Wigram and Biggar Spirit Dylan Lambie.

U15

The U15’s started and ended the season with 18 players. Two coaches (Nic Humphries and Pete Tennant) were involved with the team. Pam Tennant is the team administrator. Pete will not coach u16’s next season. Calum McCallum, Nic Humphries and Fraser Campbell (when able) will be next seasons coaching team. Pam will stay on as team administrator. The numbers will be bolstered with the additional age eligible U16’s from last season.

End of season awards occurred 28-Apr-2024: Coaches Player Logan Hutchison, Players Player James Stewart, and Biggar Spirit Caleb Cunningham.

There have also been a few boys playing in the Glasgow and West regional U15 age group – namely Max Elliot, Alex Tennant, James Stewart and Finlay MacKenzie.

U16

The U16’s had approximately 20 boys and were coached by Calum McCallum, Fraser Campbell and Rory Conn. Jackie Miller and Ger McCann were the team administrators.

End of season awards occurred 28-Apr-2024: Coaches Player Harris Cairns, Players Player Finlay MacKenzie, and Biggar Spirit Finley Cook.

Season 2024/25 will see the U13’s and U14’s participating in a West Club competition with fixtures arranged by the SRU against West of Scotland, Ayr/Wellington, Dumfries Saints, GHA, Kilmarnock and Greenock Wanderers. The U15’s and U16’s will compete in the National 2 Club Conference against Ellon, Perthshire, Highland, Dunfermline, Falkirk and Dundee. The U16’s will also compete in the National Youth Cup against Boroughmuir and Kelso.

Please let Laura know if you would be interested in coaching, either being assigned to a squad or as a reserve coach who we’d call on for specialist coaching to cover if we’re short due to holidays etc. We can arrange it to suit you!

Finally, a huge thanks must go to our coaches, team administrators, army of volunteers, parent helpers and supporters for their commitment during the season, we couldn’t do it without them!



BIGGAR RFC 2023/2024 END OF SEASON GIRLS REPORT (Katie Mellanby – Convenor)

The girls have had a successful season this year.

For the first time we had teams from all ages represented during the season including U10s. The U10 and U12 girls train on a Thursday allowing those girls who only want to take part in girls rugby the opportunity to do so. Most of the girls also play with the boys on a Sunday too.

The U14 girls grew in number very quickly and had a record number of games throughout the season. They were dominant in their groups but had good competition from clubs that are beginning to grow their numbers and provide us with more competition.

As a section we travelled a lot and the highlight for many girls was the U14 trip to Oban and the U16 trip to Shetland. Thanks to all those that made this possible.

The U16 and U18s both won their National league and National Cup competitions with finals for the Cups played at Murrayfield and the Hive.

We have had incredible success with national and regional selection;

7 U16s in the regional team,

7 U16s in the national squad,

8 U18s in the regional team,

7 U18s were included in the 6N squad of 28.

Many of our girls also went onto represent Biggar at Murrayfield with the Ladies in their Shield Final.

The girls were invited to provide the guard of honour at Edinburgh which was a great day out.

We were also invited to speak at Scottish Rugby’s conference, with many of our coaches attending, this was a great day and provided many ideas for improvement in the future.

A huge thanks to players, parents, coaches, managers, first aiders, CPOs, photographers, veo controller and the committee for all of your support in making it as busy and successful as it was.

The result of all of this activity and growth in members means that next season, both the U14s and U16s will have 2 teams within their squads allowing for increased game time for individuals which had become an issue. We are all looking forward to getting started!

Colts report 2023/2024 Graeme Watson

Season 2023/2024 maintained the coaching team of myself, Jordan Gray, Mark Yates and Calum Taylor (when family commitments would allow) staying in position. Scott Watson stepped up from the U16’s who he has coached for the past few seasons and was a very welcome addition to the coaching team. Craig Whitefield moved up to coach the 2nds joining up with another former Colts coach Doug Roper.

The SRU re-structured the youth leagues this season and taking the full club approach the youth midi section (including Colts) were entered into a regional league with lower league competition that we as Colts coaches felt we were being unfairly penalised. After challenging the SRU and making the point of needing competitive fixtures to allow the appropriate development of our U18 players, the SRU agreed to enter the U18 section (only) in the new National 2 Club Conference along with Dumfries, Currie, Dunfermline, Ellon, Highland and Perthshire. The league was interspersed with National Cup/Plate fixtures playing from September to December before moving into regional cup competitions after Christmas.

Squad numbers at pre-season were good, with typically 15 to 20 boys training and up to 22 or more boys available for the conference fixtures. It’s the first time for quite a few seasons that we have had more boys than squad sizes would allow. The split of the squad was about 50% of second year colts and 50% new Colts, and we were bolstered with a couple of new but experienced recruits. Pre-season was productive, the group worked hard and the spirits were good, the young boys stepping up putting a great effort in. We were dealt a blow when Connor Murray suffered a serious ankle injury early in the pre-season and this effectively ruled him out of almost the whole competitive season, a particularly cruel blow when he had missed the previous season with a similar serious injury.

The National 2 conference went well on the whole, with 4 wins from 5 games with a notable victory over Currie and some handsome wins over Ellon, Dunfermline and Perthshire and a sole heavy defeat at the hands of Dumfries, the league winners in the first half of the conference placed in the top half of the league for the 2^nd half of the conference where we suffered two heavy defeats to Currie and Dumfries, with the Highland game being postponed due to poor weather. Overall, this placed us 2^nd in National 2 and justified our challenge of the SRU to get us placed in this league.

In the National Plate competition, we had 2 wins from 3 in the league section, with a narrow but disappointing defeat away to Jed, taking us to a quarter final versus Kelso which ended in another defeat where we did not do ourselves justice.

In early January we entered West Regional Cup competition. Some good wins over Dalziel and Hamilton were offset by a bad defeat to Marr, but we claimed a National 1 scalp by beating GHA at home and also put in a very strong performance against West unlucky to lose out by 10 points against another competent National 1 side. A disappointing defeat away to a dogged Galloway ended our competitive season.

On reflection a good season in National 2 for this group of boys but tinged with slight disappointment that we did not do better in the National Plate. A lack of a good collective defensive will and work ethic was the difference between a good and an excellent season. However, the senior Colts leaving this group should be commended for the effort they have put in over the years, it has been a pleasure to coach this group. I would like to extend my thanks on behalf of the club and committee to Scott Watson, who will be moving out of the Colts group to coach the U18 girls, and Mark Yates will also move on to take up the role of forwards coach of the Ladies Team. Mark has spent several years with the Colts group and has been an excellent coach and mentor to the boys.

Some of the boys made their transition to senior rugby, choosing to focus on senior rugby instead of completing their senior Colts year. This always impacts on the Colts group where the key to developing first years Colts is a core of competent and committed 2^nd year Colts to take the apprentices through their first year. However, these boys and others (when age qualified) demonstrated they are competent to play at this level and will hopefully continue to develop and push for 1^st and 2^nd team places next season. I think it is really important that we work very hard to retain the services of all our graduating colts for a number of years after they leave the under 18s group.

A number of the boys have earned representative honours this season with Connor Murray, Stewart Neill, Gregor Lang, Harry Stewart, Hyland Gracie and Ruari Watson playing for Glasgow and the West U17 and U18 in the inter-regional championship. Harry, Stewart and Ruari was also retained to play for Glasgow Warriors U18’s against Edinburgh Rugby U18 in the U18 Junior 1872 Cup game. Harry has attended Scotland U18 training camps and was part of the Scotland U18 6 Nations festival in Italy. We look forward to seeing more of our Colts stepping up to age grade regional rugby over the coming seasons.

Finally, it would be improper not mention Jock Gray. Jock has been a close helper and supporter of the Colts group over an extended period of time. I know I speak for all Colts of the past few years in expressing our gratitude to Jock for his efforts, kindness and the huge amount of support he has put into the Colts group over a period of almost 10 years.

That concludes the Colts Report for season 2023/2024.

Graeme Watson, Colts Head Coach, 18/06/2024.

BIGGAR RFC 2023/2024 END OF SEASON LADIES REPORT BY LAURA WATSON (LADIES TEAM CO-ORDINATOR)

The Ladies competed in the West Region League Division 1 with the first game against Cartha Queens Park 2nds on 20-Aug-2023 winning 63:0. The next game was on 27-Aug-2023 against Ayr where we lost 29:17. Onto Annan on 03-Sep-2023 winning comfortably 70:5. We then travelled to Oban Lorne on 10-Sep-2023 winning 55-10. Another win the next weekend against West of Scotland (19:12) and then Wigtownshire who had insufficient players resulting in the default score (28:0). The fixtures were then played again reversing the host and we won all of them. We finished in the table 2^nd behind Ayr only on points differential.

We then played in the National Shield competition with the first game against Corstorphine 2nds on 28-Jan-2024 winning 55-7. Then we played Greenock Wanderers on 18-Feb-2024 winning 45-0. We then travelled to Oban Lorne winning 50-7. We were supposed to play Kelso on 24-Mar-2024, however, they had insufficient players therefore, we got the default 28-0. The semi-final was against Broughton on 07-Apr-2024 and we won 27-5. On the 27-Apr-2024, we played in the National Shield final at Murrayfield against West of Scotland where we won 66-20!! A fantastic achievement and end to the season for the women’s game.

The ladies had their end of season awards evening with the senior men on 13-Apr-2024. Player of the Year Abbie Baillie, Players Player Poppy Clarkson, Alexandra Phillips Young Player of the Year and Poppy Clarkson Eric Shearer Memorial award.

Onto Biggar 7’s on 18-May-2024, where the ladies won beating Stewartry in the final! There was some good rugby on display from the teams who played – Cougars, Stewartry and Pigbarians.

Ladies Team Captain was Emelia Knights, vice-captain Alison Orr and this will remain for next season.

Finally, a huge thanks must go to our coaches Nic Humphries, Stuart Moffat and Mark Yates for their commitment during the season, we couldn’t do it without them!! They will stay on for next season. Kim Laird will replace me as Ladies Team Co-ordinator next season.

Captains Report – Biggar RFC AGM – 19/06/23

Firstly, apologies for not being able to make tonight’s AGM.

The 23/24 season was a very challenging year for the 1^st XV and had the league position been offered at the start of the season we would have been very disappointed. However, the dramatic turnaround in form and the squads’ efforts to keep the club in National 1 should be recognised. Most young squads that suffer 7 defeats in the opening 7 games would crumble and likely be relegated by Christmas. However, aided by the return of several senior players such as Owen McLeish, Luhann Kotze, Robbie Orr, Craig Borthwick the form turned around with great results coming against GHA, GHK, Glasgow Accies, Melrose, Gala & Watsonians.

In the end safety from relegation was secured with games to spare which at one stage looked extremely unlikely so credit must be given to the resilience and character of the squad. Some of the contributions of the young players this year has been outstanding particularly in such a difficult and challenging season. Examples of this include but are not limited to the performances and notable improvement from Ryan Whitefield, Ben White, Morris McDiarmid, Tom Roper, Finlay Crozier & many others who should be proud of their efforts and contributions as young players in high pressure matches. There is a wealth of young talent in our senior squad, and we should be excited to see these players grow and develop further over the next few seasons.

As the season drew to a close there was a sense of the end of an era with David Wilson, Dougie Fleming, Ian Notman & Ian Warnock all moving on from their roles within the senior section. Its important that these four are remembered for the huge amounts of success they brought to the club. Multiple league titles & creating a squad that is built around homegrown talent is the legacy that should be remembered. I would like to thank them all for all their efforts during there time at Biggar RFC. Particularly to Dougie, Ian & Ian who have served the club for such a long period in a variety of different roles.

As mentioned, I’m proud of the resilience the squad showed this season to overcome a disastrous start to the season. But the entire senior squad is grateful for the support shown again this season particularly during that difficult run early on. The support we receive as a 1^st XV continues to be the reason so many players continue playing at Biggar and also why so many return to the club. On behalf of both the 1^st XV and 2^nd XV thanks for your continued support it really does make a massive difference.

However, the focus quickly turns to next season. The players are excited to start preseason and the appointment of Craig Borthwick as head coach has been very well received amongst the playing group. I’m confident with Craig as head coach and with the support being built around him we can return to pushing for promotion to the premiership. An exciting squad is being assembled and with lots of consistent performers in the 2^nd XV who will be determined to make the jump to the 1^st XV should mean we have a very healthy squad come the start of the season. Andrew Peacock has also joined the management team after a fantastic playing career and on behalf of all the teammates he has had over the years I would like to thank him for all he has done for the senior squad, club and his teammates.

I would also like to put on record my thanks to all the players, coaches, committee members, and wider club members for their support to myself during my 2 seasons as captain. It has been a privilege to captain the club for the last few seasons and I’m extremely grateful to have been given the opportunity.

I look forward to seeing everyone down at Hartree mill in the near future.

Regards.

Andy Jardine

DEVELOPMENT TEAM REPORT 2023-24: Nic Humphries

Schools Program

Primary delivery:

All Biggar HS cluster primary schools received a minimum 4 week block of TAG rugby (P1-P7). Over 350 children across all 12 schools. In Carluke we delivered to all the Carluke HS cluster primary schools, again a minimum 4 week block of TAG – 680 children in 8 schools. At the club we held a P6/7 festival in October with 200 children in attendance, unfortunately the P4/5 festival was cancelled due to bad weather and we couldn’t reschedule. We held 3 come and try days through the season working mini convenor Catrina to recruit new players.

Further festivals have been held: The P7 schools festival was held in June with 11 schools taking part from Biggar, Lanark & Carluke with Auchengray/Blackmount winning the Biggar Rugby P7 Cup. A further P1-3 sports festival will be held next week with around 150 children attending (this isn’t being held at the club due to the building works this year).

Calum McCallum and Cerys Forrest have delivered the program. We have encountered minor issues with booking in to schools through active schools in Biggar and tracking the recruitment from schools to club numbers. Calum will now book in to schools directly as of now and a new member pack will allow us to see the impact of the schools program on new member recruitment.

Secondary School:

Biggar HS SoR: S1 & S2 school of rugby ran at the HS. S2’s run till Christmas then stop. We had average numbers in both (S1 – 22, S2 -24). Program takes many hours to run with after school clubs part of the program, players receive around 2 ½ to 3 hours a week of extra training. We have struggled to recruit a huge amount of new male players in to the club but female numbers continue to thrive. The P7 festival was introduced this year to raise the profile of rugby at P7 to entice new players into the school of rugby in August. A curriculum rugby block was introduced too. The aim will always be to have 20 boys at S1 and 10 girls.

Lanark GS: We started a new after schools club for girls. This is slowly growing and 6 new girls joined from Lanark at U14. A new PT in the PE department will support the girls growth.

Carluke HS: A large SoR at Carluke with 25 boys at S1/2. Numbers are slowly trickling in to the club at U13/U14. We will match the delivery between Biggar and Carluke and look at how we can improve the school to club recruitment. New funding from the SRU will mean we will vastly increase the Primary school delivery in Carluke and the support at the SoR. We have seen good numbers coming from Carluke with 16 players across U13/U14/U15. Increase in girls number at Carluke is a discussion we are having with Calum Taylor (Active schools and who runs the SoR).

As a team we reviewed the annual program and planned the below for 2024-25.

Academy

Academy 2023-24 ran from August to April across P6/P7, U13/U14 and U14 girls. Older teams were supported by professional staff and volunteer team coaches. These session give an extra hour/90 minutes of training a week through the season on top of their team training. Focus is always on skill development.

Hypers

36 athletes committed to the annual program. We deliver 3 x sessions for 50 weeks of the year (this equates to an extra 300 hours of training the players can access). We have had success within the SRU performance programs with male and female players but with 36 players accessing skills and S&C the U16/U18 girls and U15/U16 squads performances have improved. A new intake has just entered Hypers with 20 new athletes starting a new Hypers season. With U18 leavers numbers in Hypers will be 50-55 players.