Hello to all members new and old! This is just a few words from me about the last 5 months as your chair.

Firstly, I am pleased to say that the club is currently in excellent shape due to the continued support from our great committee and its great leaders.

We have had winter marathon training schedules provided by Vice Chairperson; Nick French, who with his team of Sunday long run volunteers did a sterling job to get many of us through marathon season.

Moving forward we still have volunteers for our summer route marking out. And I have to say that all the time and effort our volunteers offer speaks volumes about our club spirit and teamwork!

We have had a few new committee members since the last AGM and the new officers are settling in very well with some outstanding behind the scenes work from Ruth Bennett, Michelle Kimberley. Also Stuart Munday has taken to group coordinator like a duck to water and is looking to organise group leader workshops in the near future. These workshops are designed to ensure our leadership is consistent and we’re all informed on group safety.

Prior to becoming the chairman I was very briefly the kit person. During this time the only duty I managed to carry out was to update the club hoodies design. The hoodies sleeves are now emblazoned with the club name and the logo on back of the hoodie is now larger and bolder. I’m delighted to mention that we now have our new kit provider Glyn Pink. Glyn has secured a local supplier for our hoodies and has a good stock of kit available now which we hope to promote more very soon. Feel free to contact him directly, he is very accommodating and is proving to be a valuable member on the committee.

Glenn Barker continues to be a great ambassador for the Mental Health Team for the club and his efforts are highly valued. He has recently recruited several new members to his support team which I know is greatly appreciated by all of our members.

Club Social Secretary Shaun Paskin organised our first Spring Ball at Worcester County Cricket Club which incorporated our club awards and nominations and the presentation night was a roaring success!! Moving forward this will now be an annual event – although the date may change so it’s a little warmer for those off the shoulder frocks the ladies like to wear (it was a bit chilly)! So a huge well done to Shaun and Jo Evans for volunteering your time to co-ordinate the event. I know all of us greatly appreciated your efforts!

New Club Membership Secretary, Steve McNelis has had his hands full this month with his first dealing of renewals to sort out. And I’d like to thank him for working his way through them, despite various emails going missing which I’m sure tested him sometimes. However, with the help and patience of members he won in the end! Well done again Steve (tough job).

Cross Country: Our captains Chris Attwood and Lorraine Griffiths did a fantastic job with the Men’s and Ladies teams this year. They quietly went about their business making sure the club had a team at all the events. I appreciate that they encouraged new people to participate in something different to normal road running, and to enter events where pushing yourself to the next level is sometimes a challenge. I know being a team player gives you a great sense of achievement so when it comes round again don’t be afraid to give it a go you will always be made welcome by Chris and Lorraine.

These are only a few of the many things which have happened so far this year! I am thrilled to have shared some great moments with members of the club from marshalling at the Races, X Country supporting members at marathons, seeing everyone collect their well deserved awards at our Spring Ball and witnessing people doing things for the love of the club such as Peter Darwen with his parkrun tourism runs and Graham Harris’ Thursday mug run!

I hope to be able to see much more through this year. So thank you to everyone who has wished me well on my appointment as chair and I hope I fulfil my duties for you all!

Kind regards to all of you.

Dill