It’s been a busy couple of week’s at Norton Down. Last Saturday, the 5th September saw volunteers from the junior and senior sections of the club come together to undertake a spring clean as part of the NatWest RugbyForce weekend. This is a nationwide programme that supports grassroots rugby clubs.

During the course of the day, the team gave the clubhouse a much needed once over and also cleared a skip full of clutter from the site. The willing volunteers also had a go at stone picking on the club’s fledgling new pitch. There is still some work to do but over time this will prove to be a very valuable asset.

Club secretary, Ian Tiley, would like to thank all those who took part, young and old, without them the day would not have been such a huge success.

On Saturday 12th, the club also took part in the RFU’s pitch up and play programme. In a welcome return to some meaningful rugby two teams played an entertaining game of touch rugby in front of a sizeable crowd.

Covid measures were in place, which saw the game broken into fifteen minute segments so that hand cleansing and sanitising could take place. This ensured the large number of players who attended were all able to get plenty of game time, with rolling substitutions allowing everyone to take a full part.

Despite the long lay off, the players showed they had not forgotten how to play, with some excellent rugby on show. The list of try scorers was too long to report in full. The final score wasn’t important however, or even recorded, as it was all about coming together and enjoying an afternoon of sport again.

The aim is to repeat the event on Saturday, 3rd October, watch social media for updates.