Clubhouse Openings and Announcements - week of 28/01/13

This week’s clubhouse openings and announcements!

Clubhouse Openings

Wiggy Wednesday – Wednesday, 30th of January, open at 19:30

Missed Wiggy Wednesday?  Well, you’re in luck!  This Wednesday Wiggy will be opening the clubhouse for all to come down and have a good time.  Beginning to get tired of dry January, well it’s nearly over folks so why not celebrate all of your good work by treating yourself to a drink?  Also, one of our exiles will be down at the clubhouse on Wednesday night, Hamish Mitchell is returning from the US since he missed Wiggy Wednesdays and Millwall so much.  He’ll be around for the night so come on down and say hi.

Chef Shezza will be cooking up a beef noodle soup (fillet of beef, noodles, mushrooms & bok choy). Get your orders in early to avoid disappointment as this is sure to sell out!!

We are still looking for Duty Managers (DMs) to volunteer and keep the clubhouse open.  Gareth will continue to lead DM training and will be training Hoff and Larry this week (Thanks for signing up!)

Wiggy’s Weekend Warm Up– Friday, 1^st of February, open at 19:30

Not had enough of Wiggy on Wednesday, well you don’t have to wait a week as he’s opening the clubhouse on Friday too!  February heralds the return of Friday’s being open at the clubhouse and the official end of dry January!  So come on down and enjoy the clubhouse atmosphere and get your liver ready for 6 Nations!!!

Clubhouse Open – Saturday, 2^nd of February, open at 1 pm

This Saturday the clubhouse is open and we have our own Thirds on the home pitch with the 2nds away.  Also, we’ll be showing the 6 Nations games!  The kick offs for the Ireland vs. Wales game is at 1:30 and the England vs. Scotland game starts at 4. Get out and support our teams and watch some rugby on the tv!

Clubhouse Open – Sunday, 3^rd of February, open at 2:30

Don’t know where to watch the Italy vs. France game? Well, you’re in luck.  The clubhouse will be open on Sunday for those that want to see the game! The game kicks off at 3 pm.

Hungry for a roast dinner on Sunday?  The Ferry House will be opening the restaurant between 12:30 and 6 pm, so come down and support one of your own.

Upcoming Events!

House of Commons

It’s getting near the time to start thinking about dusting off your fancy party shoes for the House of Commons End of Season Dinner.  A tentative date has been set and we are just waiting on confirmation to formally announce the date. 

The big question is where we should have the after party?  Please email any suggestions to socialsecretary@millwallrugby.com .  Thanks everyone!

Announcements

Linkedin

Please follow the Millwall Rugby Club on Linkedin.  Also, a Millwall Rugby Club group has been set up so join and be linked to other members for potential networking opportunities.

Request for Help

For this Wednesday & next Gareth will be available to train (or re-train) anyone who wants to become a Duty Manager (DM) and is able to commit to closing the club at least 1 in 8 Saturdays (the more people we get, the more we can share the weekends).  If you want to volunteer for this, please email Gareth@millwallrugby.com letting him know which date you can make and turn up at 7pm. We are running this training in order to get as many people trained up before the 6 Nations peak-period. 

Clubhouse facilities update from meeting tonight

Ryan chaired a well-attended meeting of the clubhouse subcommittee tonight. The meeting was a chance for members to come along and have a say in the way the clubhouse is run.  All the club's subcommittees are completely open to all members to join and get involved.

Among the topics discussed were:

• Making sure the bar operations and clubhouse support the core playing activities
• Role of duty managers
• Improving stock control
• Reducing waste
• Cleaning/Maintenance and general expenditure on things
• Reminding members about things such as "being nice to duty managers asking them to leave at closing time", dispelling myths that bar volunteers are paid (it's not the case... we wish it were!)
• Making sure the right people can get access to the clubhouse when they need to (keys and cards)
• Finding out why people come to the bar and why people don't

Ryan will be producing some more detailed notes within a few days to share here.

The next meeting for anyone interested will be Tuesday 26th March.  In the meantime, please talk to us in the bar if you want to find out more, or get involved in some way.

Training tonight cancelled but games on Sat are still on...

Due to the weather, training at George Green School has been cancelled. There was not enough interest in running a session at the gym so there will be no training tonight.

We still have a full set of fixtures on Sat so please let the managers and selection@millwallrugby.com know your availability.

Thanks

Shaf

Clubhouse Openings & Announcements - week of 21/01/13

This week’s clubhouse openings!

Clubhouse Openings

Hargreaves Hump Day – Wednesday, 23rd of January, open at 19:30

This week we are celebrating the following events that happened on this date in history.

• 1778 (and every day thereafter) – Guinness has been drunk – Why not (still) celebrate this fact at £1.40 per pint of Guinness*!!
• 2013 – Guinness is £1.40 a pint* in the clubhouse!!

To celebrate these events you will have our own ‘Intrepid’ explorer Ryan Kuleszka as guest Duty Manager for Hargreaves ‘Hump’ Day this week.

Chef Shezza will be cooking up a hearty beef stew with home made dumplings and creamy mash for din dins. Get your orders in early to avoid disappointment as this is sure to sell out!! Why not wash it down with a nice refreshing Guinness at only £1.40 a pint*? *Whilst stocks last (as we only have around 50 pints at this price until 26^th Jan)

Clubhouse Closed – Friday 25^th of January

Clubhouse Open – Saturday 26^th of January, open at 2 pm

Come on down and enjoy the atmosphere of the clubhouse.  We’ll have Flex and Sarah as our DMs on Saturday.

Announcements

Linkedin

Please follow the Millwall Rugby Club on Linkedin.  Also a Millwall Rugby Club group has been set up so join and be linked to other members for potential networking opportunities.

Request for Help:

For this Wednesday & next Gareth will be available to train (or re-train) anyone who wants to become a Duty Manager (DM) and is able to commit to closing the club at least 1 in 8 Saturdays (the more people we get, the more we can share the weekends).  If you want to volunteer for this, please email Gareth@millwallrugby.com letting him know which date you can make and turn up at 7pm. We are running this training in order to get as many people trained up before the 6 Nations peak-period.

Unfortunately, if we don’t have enough DMs available, we can’t open the clubhouse and therefore you won’t be able to ridicule your Italian, Scottish, French, English or Irish fellow members when they lose their matches and Wales win all of theirs ;-)

Millwall members appear in City AM double page spread

Check out today's CityAM to see Millwall Committee Members Ryan Kuleska, Gareth Hargreaves and Scott Vinnicombe pictured along with England Head Coach Stuart Lancaster (and an 'extra' from the agency that ran the RugbyForce event).

 

Read the article online here.

 

 

 

Sophie Morris

Development Officer

Millwall Rugby Club

Hargreaves 'Hump' Day - Weds 23rd Jan

Hello fellow Hargreaves ‘Hump’ Day followers.

This week we are celebrating the following events that happened on this date in history.

• 1778 (and every day thereafter) – Guinness has been drunk – Why not (still) celebrate this fact at £1.40 per pint of Guinness*!!
• 1897 – Elva Zona Heaster is found dead in Greenbrier County, West Virginia. The resulting murder trial of her husband is perhaps the only case in United States history where the alleged testimony of a ghost helped secure a conviction. – Only in America!!!
• 1957 – American inventor Walter Frederick Morrison sells the rights to his flying disc to the Wham-O toy company, who later rename it the "Frisbee".
• 2013 – Guinness is £1.40 a pint* in the clubhouse!!

We are also celebrating some (very) loosely related current film release births

• 1897 – Sir William Samuel Stephenson is born, Canadian soldier, W.W.II codename, Intrepid. Inspiration for James Bond. (d. 1989)
• 1910 – Django Reinhardt, Belgian guitarist is born (d. 1953)

To celebrate these events you will have our own ‘Intrepid’ explorer Ryan Kuleszka as guest Duty Manager for Hargreaves ‘Hump’ Day this week. 

Chef Shezza will be cooking up a hearty beef stew with home made dumplings and creamy mash for din dins. Get your orders in early to avoid disappointment as this is sure to sell out!! Why not wash it down with a nice refreshing Guinness at only £1.40 a pint*?

*Whilst stocks last (as we only have around 50 pints at this price until 26^th Jan)

Request for Help:

For this Wednesday & next Gareth will be available to train (or re-train) anyone who wants to become a Duty Manager (DM) and is able to commit to closing the club at least 1 in 8 Saturdays (the more people we get, the more we can share the weekends).

If you want to volunteer for this, please email Gareth@millwallrugby.com letting him know which date you can make and turn up at 7pm. -

A big thank you goes to Flex and Sarah McCabe for becoming DM's - they will be running the club this Saturday so be nice to them.

We are running this training in order to get as many people trained up before the 6 Nations peak-period.

Unfortunately, if we don’t have enough DMs available, we can’t open the clubhouse and therefore you won’t be able to ridicule your Italian, Scottish, French, English or Irish fellow members when they lose their matches and Wales win all of theirs ;-)

PLEASE VOLUNTEER TO HELP YOUR CLUB IF YOU CAN.

England Head Coach, Stuart Lancaster, launches RugbyForce at Millwall Rugby Club.

Millwall Rugby Club was host to the nationwide launch of NatWest RugbyForce, on Monday 14 January. 

England Head Coach, Stuart Lancaster and Steve Grainger, Rugby Development Director of the RFU, spent the day at Millwall Rugby Club’s clubhouse speaking to national press and meeting club members. 

The event shows the links that our rugby club has with the sports governing body and the importance that the RFU places in supporting community clubs.

After a couple of weeks of preparation work, involving a significant clean and tidy of the clubhouse, the day was a great success with the top echelon of English rugby seeing the club and the hard work that goes on here.

Stuart Lancaster thanked Club President Jim Fitzpatrick and Chairman Tim McDonagh for the work done in hosting this prestigious event. Paul Murphy, President of the RFU was also present, as well as the Essex County President Bob Whittle, emphasising the importance of the day. 

RugbyForce will aim to help nearly half of English community rugby clubs become stronger businesses over the next five years. Stuart Lancaster will act as a NatWest RugbyForce ambassador in England from 2013 onwards, looking to raise the profile of the initiative and encourage community clubs to register to take part. 

Not only was Millwall Rugby Club chosen to host the launch event, but it's members were also asked to be in the official photographs with Lancaster to promote the programme. All photographs are available to view on our Facebook page. 

The day saw some significant press coverage for the club with the Guardian, Daily Express, Mirror and Times all covering it and the Independent made special mention of our 'splendid' clubhouse. We even got a mention on the All Blacks website! 

NatWest RugbyForce ambassador Lancaster, said: “Rugby clubs are at the heart of their local communities and we know that they need support to sustain themselves, not only for the next couple of seasons but also for the years to come. Many England players started their careers at these clubs and NatWest RugbyForce will help clubs to help themselves by, giving them long term vision and enabling them to think like a business to attract and retain members." 

Millwall Rugby Club would like to thank all members who helped make this day the success it was. We hope to have the RFU back for another event soon!

Sophie Morris
Development Officer
Millwall Rugby Club

Clubhouse Still Open This Saturday

CLUBHOUSE STILL OPEN FROM 2PM ON SATURDAY

Due to the snow, the mens games tomorrow have been cancelled. However, the clubhouse will still be open from 2pm if you would like to pop down and help George Jenkins celebrate his birthday/make a Millwall snowman !!

Guinness is still £1.40 a pint as well !!

We will keep the clubhouse open up until 11pm if there is enough demand to do so, but we may close early if it is quiet.

See you down there....

Flex, Sarah & Gareth.

p.s. Flex & Sarah are being trained on the till tomorrow - so the more obscure the drinks order the better ;-)

Mens training and games cancelled

Due to the snow, both training and the mens games tomorrow have been cancelled. The clubhouse will still be open from 2pm if you would like to pop down and help George Jenkins celebrate his birthday.

We have a full set of fixtures next Sat so please let the managers and selection@millwallrugby.com know your availability.

Thanks

Shaf

Training tonight cancelled - 17th Jan

We've been informed that the astro is frozen so training tonight is cancelled.

As it stands, both training and the games on Sat are still on. If we are notified that the pitch is unplayable I uwill update the website/blog.

Shaf

Clubhouse Openings - Week of 14/01/13

This week’s clubhouse openings!

Clubhouse Openings

Hargreaves Hump Day – Wednesday, 16^th of January, open at 19:30

Message from Gareth:  Hi all HHD Followers,

Just a quick email to let you know what is going on this Wednesday.....Guinness is still only £1.40 a pint!!

To mix things up a bit this HHD will be a Wiggy Wednesday!!!

Shez will be creating KraPow for your dining pleasure for din-dins - Why not wash it down with Guinness at £1.40 a pint??

And we are celebrating/recognising the following fascinating facts for this Wednesday in history -

• In 1919 – The Temperance movement: The United States ratifies the Eighteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, authorizing Prohibition in the United States one year after ratification. - Why not celebrate with a pint of Guinness at £1.40 a pint??
• 1969 – Neil Back, England rugby player was born
• 2013 - We are half-way through dry January - Why not celebrate with a pint of Guinness at £1.40 a pint??
• 2013 - Guinness is only £1.40 a pint at Millwall Rugby Club (while stocks last).

Request for Duty Manager (DM) volunteers.
We are really short of DM's to cover opening and closing the club over the weekends. To try to help alleviate this I will be running DM training sessions for people who are able to commit to at least 1 weekend opening/closing per month (the more people who step-up, the less often we will have to do it).

If you are willing to help, please email me to let me know you are interested (or ring me) and let me know which of the next 3 Wednesdays you can make. A big thanks to Sarah McCabe and Flex for volunteering so far - it is really appreciated and will help me concentrate on my Sky Sports News appearance skills!!!

See you there (drinking Guinness @ £1.40 a pint) ;-)


Gareth

P.S. Drink Guinness @ £1.40 a pint responsibly

Clubhouse Closed – Friday, 18^th of January

The Clubhouse is closed for the month of January on Fridays.

Clubhouse Open – Saturday, 19^th of January, Time TBC

Come on down and hang out and enjoy the atmosphere and drinks at the clubhouse this Saturday!

Players Meeting - 12th Jan 2013

Just a short note to inform you that there will be a players meeting at the clubhouse at 11.30am tomorrow. This will be an opportunity for us to outline how we're going to get the most out of the rest of the season and to answer any questions that you have.

Please make every effort to attend.

Thanks
Shaf

Training tonight cancelled

Sorry about the short notice but due to unforeseen circumstances we have to cancel training tonight.

Shaf

Floodlights Raffle - This Saturday Jan 12th

Hello everyone, Flex speaking. Please read all of this message.

ALL PROCEEDS WILL BE ALLOCATED TO OUR ONGOING FLOODLIGHT FUND.

(Planning permission was approved Jan 7th)

In honour of Bradley Wiggins, we’re holding a raffle in the Clubhouse Saturday night. I can say with complete confidence that the prizes are extraordinarily interesting, and well worth a look. Some of them may even be worth something.

The point is that you should all break open your penny jars (I will also accept € and US$ at reasonable (possibly) exchange rates).

A quick word to the wise. It’ll be much easier to buy some tickets than not, I promise you. You really don’t want me following you around, cramping your style in the White Swan at 2am.

Official tickets will be available from me and possibly some others, if they’re mad enough to prostrate themselves before you for the sake of a tenner.

Watch out for raffle ticket selling impersonators, In my experience, they will look like Iwan or Jack (also, any Australian under 5’8” should be viewed with suspicion).

One more important point, while stocks last, everyone who buys a fivers worth of tickets gets a free Rugby ball with Catlin written on it (don’t ask me why) and anyone who buys a tenners worth of tickets gets a free Rugby ball with Catlin written on it (see previous brackets) and a black t-shirt with Egg Catcher written on it. My advice, get in quick.

Finally, in the interests of keeping the Club tidy, please note there is a bin to your right as you leave the Clubhouse.

See you Saturday,

Cheers

Flex

p.s. Please don’t let this put you off turning up Saturday

Stuart Lancaster launches Natwest RugbyForce in MRFC Clubhouse

National RFU\Natwest Event Launch and Press Conference, January 14th, in MRFC

Stuart Lancaster is coming to our clubhouse next Monday, January 14th to launch this year's Natwest RugbyForce program which is quite an honour for our relatively small club and which we can all be proud of, past and present members. Out of the 3000 or so clubs in the RFU, they chose Millwall (perhaps not knowing all about our "The Point of Monte Cristo"!)   

He's happy to meet Millwall members and pose for photos at 3.45pm if you can come down. The photos will be used for publicity so we could get Millwall in the national press!

RugbyForce is a partnership between the RFU and Natwest to help clubs at the grassroots of the game to improve their facilities, and give guidance on making their club a more sustainable business and this year there is an increased commitment with Stuart Lancaster, England's national team manager, joining the initiative.  NatWest RugbyForce, is part of RBS RugbyForce.

We were selected as we're a typical grassroots club and like many, we could do with a bit of a helping hand, we're in Central London, in an area that has lots of rugby growth potential where we can get grow given support. The event will be attended by senior RFU and RBS representatives, our President, Mr Jim Fitzpatrick MP, as well as rugby journalists from national and local papers and TV who will then go onto their Annual Sports Writer's Dinner near Tower Bridge. The Essex RFU are also delighted we've been selected, they played a part in it happening, will be down on the day and want us to take full advantage of it.

The club will be mentioned in the national press release and we expect the writers and photographers to also mention Millwall Rugby Club. All the main papers, The Times, The Telegraph, Sunday Times, have been invited. National TV and radio will interview Stuart in the clubhouse and under the Arches so the club will get some great exposure.

Stuart's time is limited and the event is a one that we are hosting, not our own, so unfortunately we cannot invite members down. However, the event finishes at 5pm so you could then come and meet the RFU, Natwest guests and journalists who we'll invite to stay on for a pre-dinner beer. We also hope to have some signed souvenirs to raffle at a later date.

Finally this event doesn't happen by accident, it comes from people working hard, often unseen and not well unrecognised, for the club. You too can play your part, we'll need the clubhouse to be kept tidy from now until after the event. Like last Sunday, we'll need people to help tidy, clean and arrange furniture on Sunday morning from 11am. If anyone has seat covers, sofa throws etc that would improve the club appearance, please bring them down. An event like this very rare, we can make a big impression that will help with funds, floodlights, new players and members so grab it while it's there.

While he's here, we can also see if Stuart would be interested in a role at Millwall, working for our own Head Coach, Dave Roberts, once he's decided to move on from England..

http://www.rbs.com/content/rbs/en/about/sponsorship/rugbyforce.html

https://www.facebook.com/rbsrugbyforce