There are lots of things that happen in the club, however they don’t ‘just happen’ there is a volunteer behind the scenes just getting on with it. It is the same in any club you go to.

Now we can put a spotlight on two of ours.
For years we went along with maybe four or five sponsors, they might have an advertising board or two on the pitch side and sometimes one just lay in the grass face down or needed a clean to read it.
Then along came Jim Moss who had volunteered to take over as Membership secretary, not an easy job but done with the tenacity of a Jack Russell.
Not satisfied with that he also took on Sponsorship.
Soon we had just over one hundred sponsors showing on the web page and around the ground, every inch of usable space had a sponsor's board hanging from it, and I have to say it looks impressive. I have yet to view a club web page that has so many sponsors.
All clubs need sponsors and now we have moved into National league rugby they are more important than ever.
Jim has always had a good relationship with all our sponsors and that personal and smooth touch has had clearly paid off.

Then we come to a job that is less visible but if it goes wrong we can have real problems, not only at the moment but for the short term reputation of the club.
Hospitality manager. You might conjure up an image of a smooth talking bar fly leaning on the bar with a drink welcoming people in and not doing much else.

Well, he certainly is smooth talking but I have never seen him leaning on the bar with a drink.
We are lucky to have Pete Jewell as our hospitality manager.
I must admit to being the same as most people, it is not really clear what is involved.
We get meals for players and supporters, not that Pete cooks them, though I guess he would if needs be, but will organise those that do and when they do it.
The bar is the same, there are bar staff when we need them, not only in the club but also in the outside bars and the taps don’t run dry.
He keeps the bar accounts and has to monitor stock levels. All those vital things a club needs for our members and visiting teams.
As Plymouth Combination secretary I have had many dealing with Pete over finals nights meals and hospitality, always super efficient and giving us what we want.
I have probably missed a number of parts of his job out, sorry Pete.

So there we are our two ‘unsung heroes’ who were invited up to Twickenham at the end of August for the final of the awards.

More than 2,000 volunteers were nominated for the awards, showcasing their incredible impact on clubs and communities.
From these, forty-six local winners were invited to The Home of England Rugby for an awards ceremony compered by Alex Payne.

They were welcomed at the Twickenham members lounge with tea and cake and a talk by James Haskell a member of ‘The Good, The Bad & The Rugby – The Bad.
This was followed by a tour of the stadium. Then a couple of hours off to prepare for the evening.
Then a pitchside drinks reception with all the other nominated volunteers.
Jim and Pete had a long conversation with Conor O’Shea and Rob Briers a past President of the RFU.

At 19.00 there was the awards ceremony hosted by Alex Payne of Sky Sports and The Good of the ‘The Good, The Bad and The Rugby.’
The Unsung Hero Award eventually went to Moira Bowden of Hartlepool Rovers F.C.

But despite that, our two unsung heroes had a really good day at Twickenham, and considering how many volunteers there are in rugby, to reach the last forty-six out of two thousand nominations is something to be proud of.
There they are in the group photos the only ones in their full club No1s looking the ‘Bee's knees’.

They stayed the Friday night in the Twickenham stadium hotel and the next day back to Plymouth with their goody bags and certificates to hang on the wall.

Thanks go to Jim and Pete for all their hard work for their club, a well deserved nomination.