AWARDS EVENING
Many thanks to all those who attended the Club’s Awards Evening on Saturday, which was held at the Churchtown Conservative Club to recognise individual and team achievements from the 2022 season.
The evening was compered by our Chairman, Chris Harding, who announced the winners and runners-up of the Club’s eleven internal competitions and twelve team merits and the prizes were presented by our Club President, Peter Smith. These were reported via the website and regular newsletters throughout the year and we congratulate all the successful players.
The final presentations are made to the Team of the Year and Club Member of the Year. As in previous years, the Team of the Year award was a very a difficult one to determine, given the success of several of our teams in 2022. The following teams all achieved successes in their respective leagues and were under consideration :-
Vultures – Burscough League 1st Division Champions
Ospreys – Burscough League 2nd Division Champions
Kites – Parks League 1st Division Champions and KO Cup finalists
Buzzards – Southport Ladies’ League Afternoon 2nd Division Champions
Eagles – LV Premier Division Runners-Up and KO Cup finalists
Merlins – Southport Vets League 2nd Division Runners-Up (promotion to top division) and KO Cup finalists
Although several of these teams would have been deserving winners of the award, following much consideration, the Vultures were announced as Team of the Year in recognition of their achievement in winning the 1st Division of the Burscough and Lathom League, which is regarded as one of the best leagues in the area. The team enjoyed an outstanding season, winning sixteen matches and losing just one league game to finish nineteen points clear of runners-up Banks St. Stephen’s. The top division of this league has been dominated by a select number of teams for over forty years and has never been won by a team based in Southport in the league’s history. The team was only formed in 2017 and has attracted several new members to the club, all of whom play a full part in the Club’s events and includes a number of players who represent the town in the Southport Federation team. Congratulations to captain Chris Harding and all his players.
The announcement of the Club Member of the Year award was made by the Club’s Vice-Chairman, Jason Chapman and this year the award went to our Chairman, Chris Harding. Chris was elected Club Chairman in 2007 at a time when the Club had fewer than forty members and ran just two league teams. Since then, with the help of many enthusiastic members and hard-working volunteers the Club’s membership has grown enough to enable us to run twelve teams in seven different local leagues. In addition, Chris has been captain of the Eagles in the LV League for 23 seasons, during which time the team has won the LV Premier Division Championship three times. Finally, Chris was instrumental in setting up the Vultures to play in the Burscough League and has captained that team since it’s formation.
The awards were followed by a buffet, prepared by George Hitchmough and Sue Andersen and a quiz set by George. Many thanks to George and Sue for again doing an excellent job and for providing such an enjoyable and successful evening.
The Committee also wishes to thank the following : –
The Conservative Club Steward, Gill and Brian Whitley for their hard work behind the bar on the night and the Conservative Club Committee for allowing us the use of their excellent facilities once again.
Debbie Barnes for kindly providing cakes.
Kez, Darren and Noreen for their help selling raffle tickets.
Finally, thank you to all those who supported the evening by attending, bringing raffles prizes or contributing donations. All proceeds from the evening will go towards club funds. We look forward to seeing everyone again for another successful season in 2023. Watch out for further details of our AGM, which is to be held at Churchtown Conservative Club on Monday 20th February.
