Needless to say, this term and year as a whole haven’t gone as anyone of us would’ve hoped. But that hasn’t stopped the School of Engineering RFC from making the most of it!
Back in May, during our first lockdown stint, we joined forces with UBRFC and the Medics Rugby Club to raise money and support the NHS Superheroes of the University Hospitals Birmingham Charity by ‘Racing to Tour.’ Together with the other two rugby clubs we managed to raise over £2,000 running, cycling and swimming the equivalent of 2620km to Prague and back!
At the start of term, we were unfortunately informed by the RFU (rugby’s national governing body) that we wouldn’t be able to participate in fixtures until at least the new year, however we were still allowed to train. As a club we appreciated that all members would’ve had different experiences of the last few months, so we decided to put a big emphasis on coming to training and getting out of the house to ensure we were all keeping each other's mental health in check. Following this we reformed our families in the club to accommodate for the new large intake of freshers and create smaller support systems for everyone in the club where they had the opportunity to speak to students at different stages in their university careers.
As well as our standard training sessions now being held at our new home ground Avery Fields, we were able to hold CrossFit sessions for groups of up to 30 members once a week at SecondCity Fitness and a running club for all abilities once a week. Both of which were necessary activities to get the serotonin going in these unprecedented times.
Most recently, we’ve completed our first ever virtual Movember! An unusual affair to say the least but our Events and Social Secs, James Rodger, Ifan Downey and David Hudson, were able to facilitate a virtual auction with all club members and Old Boys to auction off our exiting 2nd XV kit in order to boost our fundraising for the Movember charity even further. I am proud to announce we were able to raise over £600 for the Movember charity in aid of testicular cancer.
Coming up next term, we finally have some fixtures booked courtesy of our new Fixture Sec Mattie Park, as well some more COVID-friendly socials!
To find out more about us as a club join our Facebook Group https://www.facebook.com/groups/140278642706710 and follow us on Instagram @uobengineersrfc.
Wishing everyone a safe and restful Christmas holiday,
Samraj Chahal
Chairman, School of Engineering RFC 2020/21
To find out more about the School of Engineering RFC visit their website www.birmingham.ac.uk/eps/engineeringrfc.
There are 42 student groups in the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences. To learn more about their projects and activities head to www.birmingham.ac.uk/eps-societies.