MEMBERS of Okehampton Rugby Football Club have unanimously elected Peter Balsom as the new club president.

Peter, who has taken over from popular club man Jerry Ovens, has been very much involved with the club over the last decade.

Until recently when he handed over the reins of treasurer to Toby Daniel, Peter successfully steered the club through a period of heavy debts, incurred at the time of creating the function suite.

Today, with the exception of a small brewery loan, all debts have been repaid which is a great credit on all those people who work so hard for the club.

Peter intends to take the club further forward and with others is preparing a five-year plan.

At the annual meeting, members were told despite a very difficult year in the aftermath of the foot and mouth outbreak, the club had made a small profit.

The popularity of the clubhouse had shown an increase in bookings for a wide range of events, player's subscriptions were up and sponsors had helped very significantly in keeping the club solvent.

The outgoing president expressed his thanks to all who had made his term of office very enjoyable.

Playing results at first team level were not as good as hoped but it was a very strong league. The second XV had obtained a mixture of good and not so good matches, leaving pride of place to go to an outstanding 3rd XV who went through the season unbeaten, extending the run from Christmas 2000.

It is hoped with the re-emergence of the Colts XV under Andy Ewen, it will continue to grow in strength next season, providing the club with a nucleus of home grown talent.

In his report, club chairman Robert Barkwill highlighted the debt owed to the club sponsors and members.

'Our facilities are amongst the very best in the West of England and we must strive to maintain that position,' he said, adding that it was an enormous pleasure to report on the very well organised highly successful junior section.

Many young people are being coached by former players but with so much activity there is always a need for volunteers.

If anyone has an hour to spare, club secretary Max Samsom will be delighted to hear from you on 01647 441134.

Training for the new season started last week and anyone interested in playing rugby should call Eric Pengelly on 01837 52894 or 01837 52277.