Bedford Blues

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SOCIAL EVENTS

125th Anniversary Dinner

Congratulations to the club and Former Players Association on the first class organisation and success of the anniversary dinner. The feedback has been phenomenal....

‘A tremendous occasion for Bedford RUFC’

‘Great ambience’

‘Congratulations on a truly wonderful evening’

‘delicious food and first class waitress delivery’

‘to have made such a huge undertaking run so smoothly and professionally was a triumph’

‘Compere, TV screens, banners, excellent guest speaker kept the interest going’

‘Great night had by all’ ….and many more.

The FPA committee would like to thank everyone involved in the organisation with special thanks to the following: Leigh Mansell and Ben Whetstone for the liaison between the FPA and the club. Also Leigh for supplying the scooter as raffle prize which was won by Liz Ormesher (see picture right) and Ben for organising the banners and video clips.

Mike Lilley for using his sales skills in marketing the anniversary bow ties. Ronnie Beard for table organisation, chasing payments and her attention to detail. Andy Irvine for liaising with all parties and keeping them informed.

Neil Roy, Phil Beard and the many others who worked so hard to produce the 125th anniversary book. The Chairman for his continual massive support and the President for his input. Club Director, Ian Bullerwell for creating the initial momentum in ticket sales.

Thanks to Martin Bayfield for agreeing to be our main speaker and proving he is the best there is and to Sam Roberts as compere, for coordinating the whole evening so well.

Finally, special mention should be made of Paul Meads who organised the marquee and catering. With nearly 800 people present this was a real challenge and the results exceeded all our expectations.

The Club Dinner and Presentation Evening:

A very successful Club Dinner, organised by the Former Players Association was held in the marquee on Friday, 20th May 2011. Ben Kay, former England and World Cup winner was the very entertaining guest speaker. A selection of the season’s many highlights was shown on the big screen during the course of the evening. The captain, James Pritchard presented Paul Tupai with the Players’ Player of the season award. The trophy was donated by Steve Page of SP Plant Ltd. Watches were also presented by Bernard Henry of SportsMedia to Paul Tupai as player of the year and Mike Rayer for his achievements as Bedford’s Director of Rugby. John Cooley would like to thank all those who emailed him to congratulate the FPA on a most enjoyable evening.

Spring Lunch:

Another successful pre-match spring lunch took place on Saturday, 2nd April in the marquee. Thanks to Leigh Mansell for organising the raffle and to Ben Whetstone and Jimmy Chandler for selling raffle tickets on the day.

London Lunch:

The London Reunion of the Former Players Association took place on Friday, 25th February at the Churchill War Rooms, 71 members attending , including 6 international former Blues players, representing England(Brian Keen, Derek Wyatt and Jeremy Janion), Wales (Mike Rayer), Australia (Alistair Murdoch) and Scotland (Scott Murray).

FPA BBQ

Over a hundred former players and guests attended the pre-match FPA BBQ held in glorious sunshine on Saturday. During the afternoon, the unveiling of the new mural took place in the bar. The FPA Chairman, Leigh Mansell introduced the proceedings and Tod Slaughter explained the purpose and lay out of the mural. Leigh then introduced Tony Marshall, Bedford's oldest living captain(1955-56) who had been given the honour of unveiling the mural. Tony is also the youngest player to represent the Blues at aged 15 and he and his father Arthur Marshall (1932-33) are the only father and son to captain the club.

The artists Sian and Anne-Marie (art teachers at Bedford Modern School), who were commissioned to paint the mural were guests of the FPA. Leigh also welcomed the Esher committee which included their Chairman of Rugby, the BBC sports commentator, John Inverdale who faced tough opposition from Tod Slaughter on the mike and from the Club's Chairman in the guinness drinking race!

The very enjoyable afternoon continued on the field with an emphatic 31-9 bonus point win for the Blues. The FPA would like to thank former player, Chris Phelps, who is now a chef for preparing the excellent food. Thanks also to committee member, Ben Whetstone for organising the raffle. Appropriately, the 1st prize was won by Dave Jancey who has just completed a mammoth charity bicycle ride for leukaemia research from Land's End to John o'Groats.

Club Dinner May 2010

The Club Dinner organised by the Former Players'Association was held on Friday, 14th May in the marquee. 200 guests attended including
six members of the 1975 Cup winning side and their coach Pat Briggs. A surprise former player attending was Scottish International and British Lion, Scott Murray. The evening was hosted by Martin Hynes and the guest speaker was former English International, Tim Stimpson.

Myles Dorrian received the award for Players' Player of the Year from last season's winner, Gregor Gillanders.

Golf Day at Bedford GC on Tuesday, 13th September 2011

21 members played. Although the conditions were blustery some surprisingly high scores were recorded.
Golf Society President Albie Saunders presented prizes to the winners.

Results

1st Alan Harper-Smith
2nd Phil Day
3rd Chris Searle

Longest drive John Cooley
Nearest the pin Gareth Davies

The annual golf match between the former players and present players took place on Wednesday, 4th May at the Bedford GC . The match finished all square, but as last year's winners the present players retained the President's Cup.

Mike Rayer and Steve Wells v Tom Bedford and Steve Kavanagh (last minute replacement for Myles Dorrian) Former players won

Gerald Bygraves and Keith Lilley v Phil Day and Norman Cooley Present players won

Bob Wilkinson and Phil Evans v Gregor Gillanders and guest, Mr. Gillanders Present players won

The annual golf match between Bedford FPA and Northampton FPA took place before the Bedford v Barbarians match on Tuesday, 19th April, the Blues again running out winners.