Blidworth Welfare wrapped up their season in style last Saturday with a 4-0 home win against Hilton Harriers to end a progressive campaign. Later that evening there was further celebrations as the club took part in their end of season awards and looked to the future at the same time by raising money for the newly formed Blidworth Under 21's side which will start next season.

The first acknowledgement of the season to be rewarded was for the club's top scorer of the campaign with Lewis Weaver comfortably coming away with the trophy. After being nominated to take a penalty on the day of the ceremony, Lewis calmly stood up to slot away his 20th strike of the campaign from just 28 appearances.

Lewis's rapid pace and growing strength as well as his developing partnership with fellow forwards Tony Edwards and Josh Brentnall has helped Lewis to rise up the top scoring charts of the league. The forward has been utilised as both a centre forward and a wide man this season but through his speed and range of dribbling he has been able to carve out a number of opportunities for himself as well as providing them for his team mates.

The performances put in by Weaver helped him to get 5 player of the match awards and even led to a number of offers coming in for the striker during the season but he stayed loyal to the club and was rewarded with his final goal tally. The progression made throughout the season is clear as the striker easily bettered his totals from last season in which he scored 9 goals in 22 games.

The next award to be given out was the Player's Player of the year which was awarded to the man who led the side from the middle and proudly wore the captain's armband, Aidy Harris. Through the season Aidy has shown tenacity, drive and has helped the side to pick up key points through his high energy performances which has also resulted in him being named player of the match on 5 occasions in his 25 matches.

He was clearly delighted to be given the accolade nominated for by his team mates and showed his appreciation by shaking every player's hand on the way back to his table.

Scott Ward gave out the next award which was for the chairman's player of the season. On choosing his recipient, Scott said "this player has helped to lead the club on and off the pitch without having the need for a armband."

He went on to say about the winner, midfielder Jonathon Drake, "he personifies what this club is about. He's been asked to play in a number of positions this year and a lot has been asked of him but he has taken on every role with 100% commitment, got his head down and played. If we had a club full of players like Jonathon, it would be an easy place to run."

Jonathon has the joint most amount of appearances for the club this year with 31, being matched solely by Joshua Brentnall. He scored one goal and picked up two player of the match awards in a campaign where he was asked to play in a variety of positions in both midfield and defence by manager Lewis Saxby. His strength this season has been in an holding midfielder role, where he was able to regain possession for the side before quickly converting it into an attack with an array of passes and good vision.

The final award of the night was presented by the manager Lewis who proudly announced his manager’s player of the season as his skipper Aidy Harris, who had to step up for the second time of the night. After bringing Aidy with him from his previous club, where he also held the captaincy, Lewis said he couldn’t ask more from his captain. He followed it up with “He is always the first one in to training, he wears his heart on his sleeve and I always know I can rely on him to give me his all.” Aidy repaid that faith this season with his performances and he also picked up 5 goals.

Scott also presented beautiful bouquets of flowers to both photographer Ellena Hutchinson and head of the teabar Chantelle Johnson as an show of gratitude that the two ladies had put in for the club over the past few months.

There was one award which was also given out ahead of kick off as the winner was unfortunately able to attend the evening’s event. The award for outstanding contribution was given to Roger Brentnall and was presented to him by Aidy Harris. The club has honoured Roger for his consistent help throughout the year. They wanted to acknowledge his help before and after games in sorting the changing rooms, collecting up and arranging the kit and water bottles as well as being the physio and masseur. They felt it was necessary to show their appreciation especially as Roger sometimes came straight from work to games and did his tasks without moaning and helped to do the little bits that would otherwise be forgotten.

After all of the awards had been presented, the players, staff, their partners and other guests took part in an horse racing evening in aid of the upcoming Blidworth Under 21’s side which is being set up in preparation for the upcoming season. The team will becoming a stepping stone for the first team as well as giving Blidworth the opportunity to build and nurture their own homegrown players.