The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the cancellation and postponement of many events across the Club, but we are returning to a sense of normality – albeit cautiously with the virus still very much a concern.

Our 2019 Minis Festival was a huge success with more than 140 teams across 19 clubs attending, and we are delighted to see so many come back on Sunday.

Despite being unable to allow Under 7 teams this year due to the RFU’s age group regulation of playing down a year, we still have an incredible 13 visiting clubs with 152 teams at Kingsey Road.

The theme of the festival is the Rugby Football Union’s core values of teamwork, respect, enjoyment, discipline and sportsmanship. Our focus is on ensuring all players have a great day and everyone will receive a participation medal at the end of the festival.

Hinde-Smith, our Minis Chairman, is thrilled to see the festival return and to be welcoming so many clubs this weekend.

He said: “Two years ago was a huge success, and with so many great testimonials from our friendly counterparts at visiting clubs it didn’t take long for Sunday’s event to sell out.

“There has been a lot of appetite for this year’s festival, with clubs on a waiting list for cancellations.

“We’re really pleased, but also surprised. We’re also sad that the Under 7s are unable take part this year, but we’re looking forward to having them back in 2022. If we did have the Under 7s we would be looking at another 40 teams, which is quite something.”

He added: “It really is important that we’ve got the room to do this at Kingsey Road. We’re lucky to have all this space to run such a large festival.

“We really appreciate the continued support from all of our other junior and senior teams for enabling us to hold the festival at our home ground. It really isn’t a given to get this to go ahead.”

As you can imagine, a lot of work has been put in behind the scenes to ensure this year's festival is even better than 2019.

Richard continued: “We always look to improve our offering.

“We ran out of food two years ago, so we’ve got more caterers on site this time.

“We have improved our technology, for example we’re using QR codes for match schedules. That all helps to minimise paper, so we’re doing our little bit towards a green environment. If a team pulls out on Sunday it would have been a big hoo-ha in previous years with paper going everywhere, whereas now all we need to do is log in and fix it.”

Volunteers are the heartbeat of our club and all community clubs across the country, with events like our Minis Festival unable to run without our brilliant Chinnor Family.

So much work has already been put in and an army of volunteers will descend on the Club on Saturday to set up.

“It’s all really positive,” said Richard.

“I’ve got to thank the Friday Club because they have been instrumental in us being able to put this festival on. We wish them well on their trip to Leeds to watch the First XV and the Minis look forward to raising a glass to them on their return.

“They have put so much work in and Doug (Humphries), for example, has probably done two-three days full-time to get the pitches marked and ready, so we’re really grateful and lucky to have them.

“We’re so grateful for all of our volunteers and the time they give to us.

“It’s a bit of a daunting task, but I’m excited and really looking forward to it.

“I certainly feel like we’re in a strong place to put on a demonstration of what the Club can do.”

Our Minis Festival would not be possible without our sponsors and we would like to thank:

ASM
Brill Precision
CPM
Farol Ltd
GGR Group
Kubota
Michael Graham
Qdos Event Hire
Rectory Homes
TFM Networks