Good afternoon all,
Welcome everyone to the season of BBQs, bad shirts, dodgy hats, sunburn, awards, tours, and
End of Season celebrations! And what a season it has been…however before we get into that the
Clubs Annual General Meeting will be held on Friday 26th June at 6:30pm. Please come along
and if you haven’t had the opportunity to add any brilliant ideas or solutions over the season,
now is your chance.
As a club we have been supported by STIGA Lawnmowers who have gifted us 2 robot mowers
worth £4k, and they are offering all club members 15% discount simply by using the code
STIGARUGBY-8171 when ordering. Placing orders and utilising all of our sponsors where
possible is a great way to show our thanks and support for them in return for them continuing to
support our ability to provide rugby facilities.
With over 450 Mini and Junior players, Dale Heast has been doing a fantastic job of running that
most important section of the club. Many of the M&J’s have been touring in the last few weeks,
showcasing the talent of Witney RFC far and wide, playing at festivals and booking out the
clubhouse for their End Of Season bashes.
Witney Cherubs are now boasting what the RFU refer to as a ‘Full House’ - with girls playing at
every age grade across the club. We also now have girls representing Witney at County level too,
which is amazing. We have come so far in four years and we are sure our upcoming fifth season
will be our best yet!
The Wolves, our fantastic SEN squad are also thriving. On the weekend of the 25th of April
Gareth Lewis welcomed the Mirano Dragons all the way from Italy to Witney RFC for the 3rd
annual KatieFest held at Wallingford. Indeed Witney’s pioneering spirit in SEN rugby has been
integral in the county and the establishment of the Oxfordshire Wolves - spearheaded by Witney
and now including Gosford, Chinnor, Wallingford, Banbury and Abingdon. What an achievement
that is. True ‘To Play With All To Win’ in action.
The Wizards, our Walking Ruby team is going from strength to strength - both in terms of
numbers training on a Thursday as well as in the fullness of their match calendar. Their
members have also been integral in so many aspects of running the club - with Wizards involved
in the senior club committee, media, administrative roles and supporting the Wolves, as well as
their commitment to sponsoring senior players in both the Men’s and Women’s teams.
Supporting all this are the fabulous members of Team Clubhouse! Ian, Annette and their crew
have cooked over 3,500 Bakers sausages for breakfast butties, 2,500 hot chocolates with all the
extras, and over 4,000 post match meals over the course of this season! Wow! And now they are
in full burger mode as BBQ season gets underway… Chairman’s lunches have also been
extremely well attended - thanks to Bob Fisk for organising these events all season which have
welcomed more than 700 guests.
Thanks also to Tian Smith, Ian Loughborough and all the media team for their hard work this
season - from team announcements to match day programmes and the End of Season booklet,
there is a huge amount of work going on behind the scenes in this department. Tian has been
instrumental in his work on all this and we are grateful for all his time and energy. He will be
stepping back from this next season, and we are excited to welcome to Ben Yates to the role -
Ben has a huge amount of experience and enthusiasm for this and we are excited to see his
vision come to life! Smorley Dunbar and Ailsa Shaw have been doing a fantastic job raising theprofile of the ladies and girls online this season - with 1,000 Angels followers on Instagram, 650
Cherubs followers, 84,000 views in the last 2 months alone and the top current top post
recording 7,649 views, they have exciting plans for further digital domination next season!
On the 1st of May the Senior Club came together for a wonderful evening to celebrate the End of
Season and present the End of Season awards. The honour of Player of the Season for the First
Team went to Captain Matt Webb. Charlie Gardner took the cup for the 2nd’s, and Wayne
Caffekey for the 3rd’s. Will Phair took the honour for the U21’s, while Most Improved went to
Ethan Clarke. The highly coveted Players’ Player trophy also went to Matt Webb, who was
heralded by many for leading from the front all season long.
In the boys’ Academy, both Coaches’ Player and Players’ Player went to Matthew Foorde, and
Owen Davies scooped Most Improved.
For the Ladies, Most Improved went to Sadie Andrews, Coaches’ Player went to VC Izzy Barker
and Players’ Player to Hettie McNally. Club Person went to Ailsa Shaw for her work on social
media and from the Academy, Lily Cope won Best Newcomer.
The Wizards also awarded their fantastic Player of the Season trophy to Andrew Nixey.
The End of Season night is a great opportunity to recognise the players and what they do out
there on the pitch, week in, week out. And the fact that Witney are getting so many senior sides
out each week while so many other clubs are struggling is a testament to the strength and
breadth of the talent and commitment we have at Witney from the M&J’s all the way up through
the club.
As we now look forward to the new season we will be ushering in a lot of change! We say
goodbye to Matt Carter from the 1st team, Simon Copperwheat from the 2nd’s and Carl Strutt
from the 3rd’s. So the Senior section for the 2026/27 season looks like this:
1st XV:
Head Coach: James Lamb*
Assistant Coach: Matt Clarke
Assistant Coach: Robbie Richardson*
Team Manager: Simon Copperwheat*
2nd XV:
Head Coach: Wayne Caffekey*
Assistant Coach: Gareth Campbell*
Team Manager: Seth Scarffe
3rd XV:
Head Coach: Ben McPherson
Assistant Coach: Chris CopeTeam Manager: Pete Holiday
Kit Manager: Harry Ward*
Helper: Adam Copperwheat*
*= Former Mini & Junior
After a season of rebuilding the Angels are excited to be heading back into the Inner Warrior
League, and are proud to see former Angels Captain Ella Scarffe playing for the RAF.
The Academy set up for both the boys and the girls are also thriving, and we are seeing junior
playing making increasingly seamless and successful steps up into senior rugby. On the boys
side Andy Bee and Lee Wright will be stepping down after an extremely strong season. True to
the ‘one club’ philosophy and living up to the club motto of ‘Play with all to win’, the focus this
year wasn’t just on the scoreboard, but on the inclusivity and development of every player. This
approach paid massive dividends and we’ve seen a staggering 14 Academy players make the
leap into senior rugby. A special mention to Reuben Owen and Ethan Clarke, who both made the
significant step up to represent the First XV, showcasing the incredible talent pipeline we have
here. Not only that, but 8 Under 17 players have made it through to the Oxfordshire training
squad, which is great. And if that wasn’t enough, 2 players also made it through to the final
South West U18 squad – another remarkable achievement! Looking ahead, the future is in
incredibly safe hands. We are thrilled to welcome Richie Craig as Head Coach for next season,
working alongside Joe Rowles, with Rob Phair as Team Manager. Between them, they bring a
wealth of vast coaching experience and a deep understanding of the club’s DNA.
Over in the Cherubs we have seen 6 Academy girls stepping up into the Angels - and 4 playing
for the County with more to come this coming season. Academy player Lily Cope won Best
Newcomer for the Angels this year after an outstanding first season in senior rugby, and U18
Izzie Pereira became the Angels top try scorer and points scorer in her first season - quite the
achievement. Our dream of a girls feeder system at Witney to mirror that of the boys is finally a
reality.
We will all be looking forward to a rest over the summer - not that things ever really stop at
Hailey Road! The clubhouse will be open Thursdays for the ever-popular Community Touch
Rugby and Supper Club, and for Friday night club. Ox and Bucks County training is also being
hosted at Witney and lead by our own Adam Copperwheat during May, and the Ladies and Girls
have a summer fitness programme from the 16th of June to the 14th of July to encourage new
female players to the club.
Glenn is already working on Pitch 2 with a plan to improve drainage over the winter months. On
the 20th of June the whole club will be coming together with buckets, sponges, hedge trimmers
and paint for our annual Club Clean-Up! All hands on deck for that - with willing volunteers
rewarded with bacon butties…. I’m sure most club members will make it for at least a couple of
pints on the patio at some point over the summer - to both enjoy the best sunset in the county
and catch up with their rugby family during the nice weather.
And that’s it. We have finished our 60th year as a club. The 60 year celebrations have been
fantastic - from the whole club picnic in August, the Founders’ Match against Longlevens and
the highly successful commemorative clothing, we have marked the occasion very well indeed.
But that is just the beginning. We have over 150 wonderful volunteers who are at the heart of the
club and we are so grateful to all those who have contributed so much over our first 60 years.We are now looking forward to continuing our enormously positive impact on our local
community over the next 60.
As the season ends we should all take time to reflect on what being part of the club as either a
member, player, or volunteer at Witney RFC means, and what that does for the community and
the well-being of others. We offer rugby and friendship to every corner of our local community,
and we spread the joy of rugby far beyond our pitches. And none of this is possible without the
help of our sponsors. We hope you are as proud to be a part of Witney RFC as we are - and we
look forward to doing it all over again next season. To all our rugby family, we wish you a
wonderful summer, and we’ll see you in September.
With warm regards
Andy
Andy Merriman
Chairman
07585 114092Witney Wolves at KatieFest
U12Cherubs on tourU13 Boys on tour
Ladies Coaches’ Player of the Season, Izzy BarkerLadies Players’ Player Hetty McNally
3rd Team award winner Wayne Caffekey, with outgoing coach Carl StruttFirst Team Captain Matt Webb
2nd Team Player of the Season, Charlie Gardner
