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Sunday 19th April saw a milestone in Doddering History - our esteemed President - the Doddermeister - reached a half century!

Sunday morning Doddery saw several "Birthday Surprises" to mark this auspicious occasion - a car park space marked with a "50" m.p.h. sign "borrowed" from the B4008 for the morning, a welcome "banner" on the Magpies clubhouse, a new Dodderers flag, a pair of Golden shorts (to be worn by all Dods on or after their own milestones), a special cake and champagne for the after-match celebrations, and the "piece de resistance" - a special trophy in the form of a "sculpture" of a rugby player - made entirely from replacement body parts! This was created by Corin Medical at Cirencester and generously donated to the Dodderers not only as a gift for our President, but as a trophy to be played for in the future on the nearest Sunday to the 19th April. (See Press Release below) (click photos to enlarge)

PRESS RELEASE: 23rd April 2009 (Circulation: Stroud News & Journal; Gloucester Citizen; Gloucestershire Echo; Western Daily Press; Rugby Football Union)

Community Rugby Club Milestone
A Cirencester firm recently helped The Dodderers Touch Rugby Club celebrate a special occasion - the 50th birthday of their President David Foster!

Founded in 2003 to celebrate England's victory in the World Cup, the club meet every Sunday morning at the Magpies playing field in Oldends Lane in Stonehouse. Originally intended as a means of ex players keeping in touch with the game, there are now over 45 members of all ages - and all levels of playing ability! Touch rugby is a non contact version of the full game, and is a rapidly growing sport in its own right, with 12,000 players in England, National leagues, an England squad and a World Cup tournament in Edinburgh in 2011! The club has been featured in the National Press, and on the Rugby Union website, where they were commended for upholding the game of rugby as a "community sport" and for providing a means of getting former players back into the game.

Though competitive, the spirit of the club is very much "tongue in cheek", and the members had arranged several birthday surprises for their elderly President - including a giant banner, a flag with the club colours and logo, a cake, champagne - and the piece de resistance - a magnificent "President's Trophy" to be played for annually on his birthday. The trophy was made by Cirencester firm Corin Group PLC who are a world leader in the manufacture of orthopaedic joint replacements, and consisted of a sculpture of a rugby player made entirely from their products, mounted on a plinth with an engraved plaque!

A spokesman for the club said "We were absolutely delighted with the way Corin embraced our request for help with a suitable trophy, not only for their generosity in supplying it and the creativity with which it was constructed, but especially for the way in which they embraced the sense of humour which it represented. It is also rare in the current economic climate to find a company that still has a sense of community and is prepared to make a contribution in this way. We were absolutely bowled over with the way they interpreted our request and the cleverness of their creation - which would not look out of place in any museum of modern art. We cannot thank them enough - especially as some of us may soon be needing to make use of their products to replace our own body parts!"

The club always welcomes new players - full details are on the website http://www.dodderers.co.uk/ - where there is also a Captain's Blog with a full report and pictures.

Ends ..............

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