RFU Seal of Approval 
December 2004 Cranleigh RFC became
only the 4th Surrey club to be awarded the RFU Seal of
Approval and Sport England Clubmark in recognition of the club's good practice
in the areas of Child Protection, the Playing Programme, Sports Equity and Club
Management. This was achieved as a
result of an incredible amount of hard work undertaken by a team of unpaid
volunteers within the club, headed by Liz
Townsend.
Subsequently, by way of further
recognition, the club was highly honoured to be awarded a specially commissioned
Volunteers' Plaque as part of the Home Office supported initiative "Year of the
Volunteer" 2005. The plaque was presented to the club at Twickenham on 13 August
2005, by
Jason Leonard OBE, and was one of only nine presented within the whole of
England to rugby
clubs.
Cranleigh RFC is now continuing to
implement the extensive Development Plan that was put in place as part of the
Seal of Approval programme, including successfully applying for financial
assistance from the RFU to drain pitches, tarmac the main club car park & to
continue recruiting further volunteers, many of whom are either already or will
soon be RFU qualified coaches.
This has all helped to improve the
playing standard of the club, with the 2004/2005 U13's side winning promotion to
Surrey 2 U14s League
for 2005/2006, whilst total Mini & Junior playing
numbers have increased to 240 & counting.
Club officials are also taking a
very prominent role within both Mini & Youth rugby at a local level via the
Waverley Cluster of clubs; where local clubs work together to improve the
delivery of rugby, both in their own club and local schools, and generally
promote good practice in all areas of club management and safety. On a
county wide scale, former Cranleigh Junior Chair Person
Liz
Townsend, has been voted on to the Surrey
RFU Management Committee as the Chair of the Wey Community of Rugby Clubs and
has also been appointed to the Surrey CB Rugby Development Partnership (CBRDP)
as Chair of Minis and Youth Rugby for the county.
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