Peter Horncastle, Chairman, WRFC
Chairman’s Welcome to Season 2016-2017
Welcome to Worplesdon Rangers FC’s 16th season!
We had fantastic successes as a Club on and off the pitch last season and I would first like to thank all our volunteers, players, parents and sponsors for their hard work and commitment in helping run and develop the Club. Our net membership grew by a further 12% last season, so we must be doing something right! It was great to see such a turnout at the combined Trophy and Fun Day in June, a fitting end to an exciting season of football for everyone.
2016-2017 looks set to continue our upward trajectory as a Club. This new season will see us start to implement our 2020 Club Development Plan. From the online survey we conducted in November-December 2015, Members requested investment in a number of areas: our pitch facilities, player and coach development, equipment and developing more of a ‘One Club’ ethos. We aim to make headway in all these areas during 2016-2017.
As evidence of our intentions, we open up in three new centres around the Guildford area this season and I would like to thank our newest partners for choosing to work with us. Our Mini-Soccer Centre at Northmead Junior School is to be supplemented by use of the all-weather pitch facility at St Joseph’s Primary School, adding a new dimension to the coaching we provide for our younger players. As well as opening up for business at Weyfield Primary Academy, we continue to build on our collaboration with Worplesdon Phoenix FC and will be using the Phoenix Memorial Ground facility for home matches involving some of our older teams, as well as the pavilion and bar for our Committee meetings.
I’m delighted to announce that this season also sees the start of a new partnership between Worplesdon Rangers FC and Woking FC Football In the Community. From September, our Under 6 Mini-Rangers will receive weekly coaching at Northmead from a Woking Academy coaching team, ensuring that the foundation skills they will need as they develop as young footballers are grafted on at the earliest opportunity (without, I hasten to add, losing sight of having lots of fun and making friends in the process!). Our Woking FC colleagues will also be hosting dynamic coaching sessions with each Mini-Soccer team at St Joseph’s once a month, with a strong emphasis on coach – as well as player – development.
These initiatives hopefully give you a flavour of what we are trying to achieve in developing as a Club, based on the feedback that you have already provided. I will of course update everyone on further developments via the Club website as the season progresses.
Before closing, a word about volunteering. As you know, we are a Club run by its Members, for its Members. Without people stepping forward to help out behind the scenes, on training and match days and with events such as Trophy Day, we can’t continue to grow and develop as a Club. At the AGM in June 2017 we will need to appoint a new Club Secretary as Clare will sadly be standing down after three seasons performing the role. We will also need a new Communications Officer (someone with a digital brain please!). If you are interested in discussing these roles further, please get in touch with our Club Secretary, at clare.jones@wrfc.club.
Alternatively, you may wish to think about whether any of the following scenarios apply to you….please get in touch if they do:
- You’d like to help out but limit your volunteering to say, one hour a week, a specific day or time of the year?
- You have a son/daughter who needs volunteering experience for their school studies, such as DoE or Sports Leaders??
- You would like to get into youth football coaching?
- You have a trade or skill that you would be happy to ‘donate’ to the Club when the need arises?
- There’s a project or initiative you’d like to undertake on behalf of the Club that you think will be of benefit to us?
- Someone in your family has just retired and would like to volunteer part-time to ‘give something back’ to the community?
- Your company would like to increase its presence in the local community through volunteering, perhaps as part of its Corporate Social Responsibility work?
Finally, it falls upon me to wish good luck to all our players and their teams for the season ahead, on and off the pitch. Enjoy your football and keep up your support for the best grass roots football club in the Guildford area!
Yours in football
Peter Horncastle
Chairman, Worplesdon Rangers FC
Email: peter.horncastle@wrfc.club