OLD Penarthians held their annual dinner & presentation evening under the watchful eye of chairman and master of ceremonies Jon Vaughan with a humorous grace from club president Tony Crimp.

After a short interlude the speeches and presentations began when Jon invited first XV captain Rhys Lakin to say a few words.

During his speech Rhys gave a synopsis of the season identifying the reasonable start, before an 11-game losing run culminating in a relegation battle.

This was only turned around in the last four weeks of the season when the team won four of their last six games.

Rhys thanked the players for all their support during the season and gave particular thanks to coaches Simon Hurley and Anthony Davies for their unstinting efforts.

The backroom staff of Stu Barter, Chris Thorne, John Bruno and John Slack were also credited for their patience and assistance.

It was then the turn of Jon to welcome the club guests and he was pleased to welcome Tony to his first dinner as club president.

The team management of Simon Hurley, Anthony Davies, Chris Thorne and John Bruno were worthy guests for their service during the year.

Jon then welcomed WRU coaching co-ordinator Jake Thomas to the celebrations for his assistance and cooperation over the last few years during which he has always been very responsive to the needs of the club.

Jake is currently a back row forward with Pontypridd having previously represented Wales at age group rugby up to Under 20s level.

Finally, Jon introduced the guest speaker for the evening, Derek Bevan, a former international referee who was the man in the middle with the whistle at the 1991 World Cup final between England and Australia at Twickenham.

He officiated at four World Cups, culminating in the 1999 event hosted by Wales. Derek has subsequently served as a referee coordinator for the WRU and been a television match official.

Derek gave a speech which was humorous, anecdotal and full of personal recollections of his time as a referee which spanned the change from amateur to professional rugby.

He was however mindful of the present time and had been a mentor and friend of Nigel Owens who had recently surpassed his record number of matches by a Welsh referee.

He concluded his speech by recommending a refereeing career to anyone who wanted to travel the world at others’ expense, meet interesting people and enjoy being part of a great game, whilst at the same time being paid for it. You would however need a thick skin.

The Player of the Year awards went to Rhys Lakin and Alex Lewis for the first and second XVs respectively.

The Most Improved Player of the Year award went to Josh Allcock and the Committee’s Player of the Year was a second success for Rhys Lakin who was an ever-present at training, led by example and was part of the general team atmosphere.

The Clubman of the Year Award was introduced by Tony who indicated that the three worthy nominees put forward to a vote by the membership were Sue Barter, Robert Crimp and Rhys Lakin.

In the end however it was decided that the winner for all his efforts as honorary secretary, 2nd XV manager, membership secretary of both RFC and social clubs and chairperson of the mini & junior section was Robert Crimp.

Nigel Williams was then honoured by Robert who announced a special award of a vintage bottle of port for 50 consecutive years of service as a committeeman of Old Penarthians RFC during which time he has been honorary treasurer for 47 years

The final presentation of the night was the award of a colours tie to the player who had appeared for the first team on 50 occasions.

And to complete a hat trick of awards the tie was presented to Rhys.