Lymm RFC v Loughborough Students – Saturday 27th September 2025

Dear Members, Guests, Sponsors and Friends of Lymm Rugby Club,

As you may already be aware, our intrepid Cyclist – Paul Foulkes – completed his 375-mile bike ride to Redruth last week and arrived on Saturday after 5 long days in the saddle, to be welcomed by our 1st team players and coaching team, travelling supporters and a great number of Redruth members. This was an incredible achievement by Paul, and he has the utmost respect for his efforts from everyone at the Club. The total amount raised to date is £10,330 plus £2,045 in gift aid – at time of writing. You can still contribute to this fantastic achievement via the Just Giving web site.

Thank you Paul for your commitment to our cause – you must be bonkers !!!

Our season is now up and running and with 3 games played in the National 2 West league we are in 6th place with 9 points from 2 wins and 1 loss. Last Saturday we travelled to our second longest away game of the season at Redruth in Cornwall, a total return distance of 648 miles. This was our first ever fixture with Redruth and the commitment of our players and coaching staff was exemplary, with the coach leaving Beechwood on Friday evening at 5.00pm and arriving back in Lymm on Saturday night at 11.30pm. An overnight stay at Exeter helped to minimise the impact on the coach travellers, but I certainly needed Sunday to recover, and I wasn’t playing!!

Thank you to all the players, coaches and their families for their continued commitment to Lymm Rugby Club as we manage these unprecedented and unexpected long journeys.

Lymm made 4 changes to the pack following last week’s win against Chester, due to injury and unavailability. Logan Byrne and Harry Wasdell were making their first starts and Tom Elphick was on the bench. In addition, the ever-spritely Tom Shard was making his 150th appearance for the first team. Conditions throughout the game were challenging as the rain was biblical at times and there was a swirling wind to contend with. At half time Lymm were behind 8-3 and fell further behind to 20-3 after 50 minutes. The Lymm side never surrendered and with the appearance of the sun and blue skies never gave up and pushed Redruth all the way, to finish 26-22 at full time, taking home a bonus point.

It was a great experience at Redruth, and they were excellent hosts to our team and the many Lymm supporters who made the trip to Cornwall. Thank you to the Lymm travellers for your continued support for our senior teams.

A full match report by Mal Pritchard can be read on the club website:

Redruth 26 – 22 Lymm

Our 2nd team put in an excellent performance on Friday evening against Caldy 2nd team, with a 13 try thriller at Beechwood. A large crowd greeted the teams as they ran out under the flood lights on a blustery night. The match was competitive throughout in difficult conditions and the half time score stood at 12-22. Lymm had the wind behind them for the second half, which continued to be very competitive and with a few minutes to play the score stood at 36-39. Lymm created a chance 10m out from the Caldy try line but their efforts at the lineout were thwarted with Caldy getting a hand to the ball to disrupt the play. Lymm continued to battle to compete for the ball and territory, but Caldy controlled the final few minutes as Lymm increased the pace and pressure – Final score 36-39.

A full match report by Paul Nolan can be read on the club website:

Lymm 36 – 39 Caldy

Welcome to Loughborough Students – This weekend we welcome Loughborough Students to Beechwood for our 1st ever encounter. So far this season they have had some tough matches with a similar result to ours against Redruth in their opening fixture. They are currently 13th in the league. I look forward to welcoming their President Kevin Lucyszyn and all their members who attend the game on Saturday.  I do hope you enjoy your time at Beechwood. A number of our club members are Alumni of Loughborough University, and they are looking forward to catching up with their old University mates who make the journey to Lymm.

Images of Beechwood – Over a period of 10 years from 1994 to 2004 a renowned local artist and avid supporter of Lymm Rugby Club, Pat Stoor, painted many pictures at Beechwood that reflect the history of our iconic clubhouse and the wonderful game of rugby that is played here; all captured in beautiful water colours. We have recently received a number of sets of these pictures gifted to the club and they will be used as they were for their first publication and are now on sale for you to buy.

These images will go on sale from this Saturday 27th September 2025 at our National 2 West match against Loughborough Students. Please come along to support our first team and secure your own copy of these “Images of Beechwood”.

More details can be found at;

Images of Beechwood

A very warm Lymm welcome is extended to Fred Howard, recognised as one of the top international referees of his day, who will be with us on Saturday to watch our game against Loughborough Students.

After retiring from international refereeing, Fred took on a role with the RFU National 1 North group, mentoring aspiring young referees at Level 5 which made him a regular visitor to Beechwood. Fred played and refereed when the game was amateur, and this is what attracted him to Lymm. He often told our very own Peter Cornelia, ‘Lymm play entertaining and skilful rugby as amateurs, and this is the model that the RFU should be promoting to ensure the survival of our game’. Two weeks ago, Peter received a call from Fred, advising that he had been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumour and given only until Christmas to live. This is devastating news to everyone who knows Fred and our thoughts are with him and his family as they come to terms with his diagnosis.

If you know Fred and would like to meet with him on Saturday, he will be in the members’ lounge at Beechwood after the game so please do pop up to see him.

I look forward to seeing as many members and supporters of Lymm RFC and visitors from Loughborough as possible at our club on Saturday and to watching some fantastic rugby. Please do come and enjoy the atmosphere and hospitality at Beechwood!

Best Regards