I am writing this message as the first of a number that will bring you up to date in terms of what planning the club has been involved with recently. Some of the challenges that we have faced during lockdown are well known to you and I must applaud the work of our staff and in particular John Heaton, Peter Moore, our coaches, admin and ground staff. However, there is much activity that we need to share with you and activity that is about to be undertaken that we will need your help with.

I recently enjoyed a very productive Planning Day at Twickenham Stadium with about 27 members of the club from our different sections, men and women players, staff and mini and youth parents.

One thing that I was very happy to observe, was the perceived ongoing relevance of our mission statement. I had mistakenly thought that there would be a desire to make changes based on various conversations that I have had over the last few years. Apart from the emphasis being placed on community, our purpose will remain and I genuinely believe that it encompasses what we are all about.

Mission Statement: Richmond aims to be the most inspiring and inclusive community rugby club promoting rugby excellence, enjoyment and friendship.

As a result of the session we agreed that there were six key focus areas that we, as a club, need to focus on and I have allocated board members to lead these activities. These focus areas are:

Revenue Generation: Richard Holman
Player Experience: John Heaton
Customer & Club Experience: Alastair Law
Community Engagement: Alistair Watson
Facilities Infrastructure: Andy Cuthbert
Management Structure & Governance: Nick Preston

I will be providing more information on these activities in the near future.

The immediate actions that were agreed are as follows:

1. The Governance Report is close to completion and is going to be sent out to the guarantors within the next few days and then the whole membership. This will be with a simple explanation as to how and why we are structured and a definition of the roles ascribed to each of the Richmond Boards.

2. I have asked Andy Cuthbert to assume the role of Temporary Director of RAA. This is to immediately begin the job of establishing a list of the maintenance work that needs to be done at the ground. His responsibilities are described as follows:

- Collate the information relating to the outstanding work that has been highlighted as necessary to keep the ground operational, and ensure that we are practically and legally providing a fully functioning facility.

This should initially be in the form of:

1. A short term specification of urgent immediate work that needs to be undertaken as soon as possible.

2. A medium term specification of work that must be planned and budgeted for that will probably need to be completed within the following nine months.

3. A longer term specification of work that will need to be done at some stage accepting that it is unlikely that we will have a new development up and running for approximately five years and only if we are successful with our planning application.

- Define the different roles and responsibilities that will be deemed necessary for the RAA to run more efficiently going forward. Broadly speaking, these responsibilities are seen as ground maintenance, bar and catering, events management and general commercial.

Once this is completed and approved by the Richmond Rugby Limited (RRL) Board, in collaboration with Richard Holman and Tom Soulsby, this will be communicated to the club membership and a shortlist will be agreed. Andy will coordinate this activity with Nick Preston and John Heaton and any other RRL board members that wish to be involved and the RAA directors will be selected. This is an urgent activity as we need to populate the RAA board as soon as possible.

-Work with RAA CEO Jimmy Wallace to ensure that we have an up to date understanding of all the activity that is happening at the Richmond Athletic Ground and ensure that this view of activities is kept up to date at all times and that all members of staff are aware of what is going on. It is also felt that we might need a specialist software product to better record all types of activity going forward.

- Andy can review some of the members that have already offered their services to help and if possible provide some guidance and specific objectives to the bar and catering staff. We have new staff and a new operation in place and it will be a good thing to ensure that everything is operating exactly in the way that we want moving forward.

These are activities that need to be undertaken urgently.

Obviously, this activity needs to be done in collaboration with the club and in particular Richmond FC Chairman John Heaton and this has never been more evident. John has stepped into the empty shoes of Mike Hobbs over the last few months and his work has been invaluable. I will expect Andy to work closely with John to action much of the above.

I look forward to working with any of you who wish to get more involved in the club and who feel that they have expertise that would be useful to us moving forward.

Kind regards,

Nick Preston
Richmond Rugby Limited Chairman (RRL)