Firstly “Clubman of the year” which I presented to Stuart Amos at my Presidents lunch at the beginning of April. Amos has done an incredible job as our mini Chair over the last 4 years. He has completely transformed our mini festivals which are now recognised as the best in Surrey and which this season alone brought in £22k of revenue to the club. He is well loved and admired by everyone in the mini section and his colleagues on the rugby committee. The number of volunteers we now have at each mini festival is testament to the fact that people want to help and support him.

Amos is a great ambassador for 'OneClub' as he has also supported the Cricket section in recent years and his daughter Lexi recently became the first Vandal to represent the club in Rugby,Cricket and Netball. I’m pleased to say that the club will continue to benefit from Amos many leadership skills on the rugby section committee as he has agreed to take over as our Valkyries chair next season.

The second award that I want to mention is a new junior section award called The Presidents “Spirit of Vandals” award which will be given each season to the junior player that the junior coaches and rugby committee members believe has shown the the most spirit on and off the pitch.

This year the inaugural Junior “Spirit of Vandals” award has gone to a very special young man Ethan Baxter. Ethan broke his leg back in January and a subsequent MRI scan revealed that Ethan has bone cancer. Thankfully the cancer is treatable but Ethan faces a very tough 16 month journey of intense cancer treatment and a major operation to replace his femur.

Ethan supported wonderful family and his under 16 teammates has shown immense courage in facing into this life changing news. Being a Vandal means a lot to Ethan and he still went on the under 16 tour to Bath the weekend after his first bought of chemo. Ethan’s story has also touched the wider rugby family and I am extremely grateful to Emma Swords, George Edgson, James Rodwell, Simon Greenhill and Damian Porter who used their rugby networks to produce a remarkable video of supportive messages from across the game for Ethan.

Prior to his diagnosis Ethan was always a young player who proactively volunteered to help out at the club and I cannot think of a more worthy winner of this “ Spirit of Vandals” award. Ethan the whole Vandals family is shoulder to shoulder with you as you fight this battle.