During the summer, new neighbours moved in across the fields in Bericote Lane. However, we were boosted by England international Peter Preece joining the club from Coventry. Peter, who was manager of the Leamington branch of the Coventry Building Society, had decided to quit the first-class game due to family and business commitments. He had made 185 appearances for Coventry and scored over 100 tries, including 25 in his final season, showing that he was still very much in his prime. Peter played 12 times for England, including famous wins on tour in South Africa and New Zealand and he unluckily missed the 1974 Lions tour to South Africa due to injury. Peter was to become club President in 2004 and his son Adam was to play for the club at full-back. We also welcomed the return of Jim Doak and John Rawlings from Rugby and the availability of Royal Navy skipper Paul Lea, when not required for Navy or Combined services games. He played for the services against the touring All Blacks during the autumn. Another newcomer was Chris Jagger from Old Wheatleyans

Maurice Goymer became Chairman and the first ever Vice Presidents' lunch was held prior to the Camp Hill game in September. After a number of average seasons, this proved to be one of the club's best for some years, spoiled only by the worst weather for many seasons. Robin Andrews was elected as captain, but circumstances required him to resign during the season and Brian Montgomery stepped up to replace him. The focus of the first half of the season was the Warwickshire Cup. After a first round win over GEC, we posted a first-team record of 61 points against Southam, with wingers Geoff Farndon and Chris Jagger each scoring 4 tries and full back Mick White converting everything. This brought us up against Old Warwickians who had knocked us out two years earlier. There was no mistake this time and we went through 23-3. A tight win over a strong Stoke Old Boys side put us into the semi-final against Sutton Coldfield, with high hopes high of reaching the final. However, on a very wet and muddy pitch at Nuneaton our backs could not get going and Sutton adapted better to the conditions, scoring two first half tries and shutting us out in the second half, to go through to the final by 10-3. The semi-final side was - Mick White, Geoff Farndon, Peter Preece, Mark Partington, Chris Jagger, Kit Forrest, Richard Cooke, Ray Ward, Fred Emeney, John Rawlings, John Kane, Robin Andrews, Dave Reeve, Paul Brant and Dave Green.

First XV 1978-79 Kit Forrest, Pat Callaghan, Jim Doak, Geoff Farndon, Pat Healy, John Lyne, Chris Jagger, Dave Inglesent, Brian Montgomery - Cled O'Connell, Dave Reeve, Fred Emeney, Robin Andrews, Tony Evans, Peter Preece

With the cup games played on Sundays, it was decided to let Jim Poynter's Extras fulfil the first team Saturday fixtures for those weeks, rather than cancel them or require the first team to play twice. This proved to be an amazing success as the Extras first went down to Wales and narrowly defeated Cwmbran and then beat Swindon 36-0. Evesham were next up and must have fancied their chances, only to find Peter Preece and Paul Lea playing in the centre, who ran them ragged. A comfortable 21-6 win over Stratford's first team made it four out of four with the Extras scoring an aggregate 96 points to 12, and 15 tries in these games, with none against. The Extras team against Stratford was - Phil Marsland, Jim Poynter, Neil Waterfall, Dick Luckman, Phil Beck, Mike Carding, Richard Cooke, Russell King, Bob Mallinson, Dale Rawlings, John Lyne, Bob Russell, Bob Hickman, Bill Dalton and Brian Montgomery.

This was the infamous Winter of Discontent with widespread union disputes affecting public services and even the Leamington Courier, which appeared in skeleton format for most of December and January, having no sports pages and therefore no match reports.The winter weather was in harmony with the times and six Saturdays were lost to snow and ice between January and mid-March. Despite some dazzling performance at times, overall the 1st XV record was only 50:50, with the Extras' wins excluded. Highlights included victories over Rhymney, new opponents from south Wales and Berry Hill from the Forest of Dean, the latter suffering their first defeat in the Midlands for four seasons. After the Cup run ended, the edge seemed to go off the season as a result of the bad weather and constant changes through injury. BRMB followed the Argus in publishing an unofficial Midlands merit table of junior clubs and Leamington were included in the first division of 19. Final records are not available but in mid- season Kidderminster led Lichfield at the top and we were in the top half, comfortably the leaders within South Warwickshire.

The records of the other sides all suffered due to the knock-on effect of having to play up a team during the Warwickshire Cup campaign, so the official records have been adjusted to reflect their true performances. On this basis the Extras' won an exceptional 26 out of 30 games with 1 draw. Their wins included Corby and Buckingham firsts', Leicester Swifts, who had lost only one game all season, and a Kenilworth "A" side which included 11 of the Kenilworth first team: their game that day having been called off. The 2nds were renamed the Spartans. It is not clear why we chose the name of the stoical ancient Greeks when all other the sides below the first team were named after animals. Perhaps the frugal and self-disciplined lifestyle of their captain Steve Whitby was the inspiration. The Spartans had a good first season with 17 wins out of 30, but the Stags and Tigers both lost more than they won and there was a real difficulty in fielding a regular Tigers side.

The Colts had an excellent season - winning 22 of their 30 games at an average of 25 points per game. They defeated Nuneaton, Solihull and holders Barkers Butts to reach the final of the Warwickshire Colts Cup and played Rugby at Coundon Road. With a strong wind in our favour we took a 7-0 lead into half time through a penalty from skipper Andy Poole and a try from Tony Philpott. Rugby pulled back a try in the second half and were awarded a penalty just inside the Leamington half in injury time. With the wind behind it the penalty went over and the match was drawn 7-7. The two teams shared the trophy. The line-up was - Mark Grimes, Tony Philpott, Mark Williams, Chas Strickland, Dean Rawlings, Mick White, Andy Poole, Paul Mullis, Pete Elliott, Steve McGee, Dave McGee, Andy Compton, Pete Bailey, Mark Bradley and Simon Roper.

Colts scrum half Huw Lewis, who started playing for the club at age 11, made his first XV debut against Stratford in February and in doing so became the first product of mini-rugby to make it through the senior side. During the season, Huw played for Warwickshire under-18s. Mick White and Andy Poole played for Warwickshire Colts with Andy skippering the side. Pat Callaghan topped the scorers with 160 points, mainly for the Extras and Spartans. Kevin Boiles was second with 128 points for the Colts. Andy Poole topped the try scorers with 23, followed by Phil Beck with 20.

The Easter tour was to Jersey where in glorious sunshine we beat the host's "A" team by 39-13 on the Friday and their first team by 4-3 on the Saturday. We also lost "B" team fixtures against Jersey United Banks (0-38) and Kings College Hospital (6-14). Tony Grimes achieved the distinction of becoming the first Leamington player to be substituted for incontinence. The sunny weather enabled us to enjoy the nearby St Brelade's beach. Next door to our less than salubrious hotel was a large house with a chatty family who owned a black Labrador. Chris Murray, in his helpful way, offered to take the dog down to the beach, but needless to say when he released it, it ran away. Later that day at the rugby club, Chris spotted a black Labrador and assuming it to be the same one, bundled it into a taxi and paid the driver to take it back to the hotel. It is not known whether he caused two homeless Labradors or whether the original one was returned safely. The final night was spoiled for some by a bout of food poisoning when one of our party, noticing a chicken being defrosted in a sink at the hotel, helpfully decided to speed up the process by adding a sprinkling of water at body temperature, the results of which are not recommended.

Geoff Farndon led our side to victory at the Warwickshire Sevens at Old Leamingtonians' new ground, beating Broadstreet 16-4 in the final. The successful squad of Farndon, Doak, Mallinson, Forrest, Luckman Partington and Jagger is shown below in celebratory mood. With a similar line-up they went on to achieve the double at the Lockheed Sevens beating Earlsdon 18-4 in the final. The Colts won the Loughborough Golden Jubilee colts sevens, beating Nottingham comfortably in the final and were runners up in their county event when, in a repeat of the 15 a-side final they drew with Rugby. Unfortunately they lost to a sudden death try in overtime.

Building on the progress made in the previous season, this was one of the most successful campaigns in the history of the club, especially in the cup competitions, where we reached our first Warwickshire Cup Final and won the Warwickshire Sevens. The Colts did even better, by again sharing the 15-aside competition and winning their Sevens. In total the club played 201 games, winning 131 and scoring over 4,000 points. Tom Tucker took over as Rugby Chairman with Dave Scannell continuing as coach. Bill Dalton (left) became club captain, only four years after taking up the game and still with little first team experience, but he was to prove to be a big success, both on and off the field. The importance of helping players to get over injuries and back onto the field quickly was recognised by the appointment of Gill Nye as the club's first physiotherapist towards the end of the previous season. Up to this point the club had offered no medical support to players except for some limited use of private physiotherapists. Players had to rely largely on advice from their GP or seek out help, many finding their way to the eccentric local osteopath Gordon Williams, who could cure anything with his steel fingers and a glass of sherry.

Three of our most celebrated players - Peter Preece, Keith Savage and Paul Lea - are seen here presenting their representative shirts to the club. Also featured are President Pip Moore and Chairman Maurice O'Goymer

Former first team winger Colin Barker reappeared at the club during the summer on an extended holiday from New Zealand and along with Mick Elkins he played in the early season games. Nick Blake a centre or wing joined from Warwick University, but the main change in the club's playing strength came from the gradual introduction of ex-colts, including the previous year's captain Andy Poole, plus Steve McGee, Dennis Brown, Dale and Dean Rawlings, Ian McKowen, Chas Strickland and Simon Roper.

After defeats against Walsall and Newbold in the opening two matches, the first team settled into its stride with a good run of form, coinciding with the opening rounds of the Warwickshire Cup. We opened our campaign with a third meeting with Old Warwickians which was won 16-0, and this was followed by comfortable victories over Coventry Tech, GEC and Rugby Welsh, who were a good side, having put out Old Leamingtonians. The semi-final was played against Keresley at Newbold's ground at the beginning of December. In the toughest of games, against opponents on a ten-match winning streak, we took the lead with the wind in our favour through a Geoff Farndon try. A penalty by Kit Forrest made it 7-0 at the break, but Keresley came back at us with two penalties against one and as the game went into injury time they broke through in midfield and looked certain to score before Partington came across from the blind-side wing to make a brilliant match saving tackle and put us into the final. After narrow defeats to Rhymney and Dudley-Kingswinford we finished the decade strongly with a run of wins, including Dixonians, Sutton Coldfield and Berkshire cup holders Newbury, on their own ground. The run-in to the cup final included a win and a loss against neighbours Kenilworth and victory over a strong Moseley United side.

The final was at Coundon Road on 16th March, three months after the semi-final. We were the clear under-dogs against Coventry Welsh, the formidable holders of the trophy, who had won 22 of 26 their games going into the match. The Welsh scrum dominated the game, giving their backs lots of ball, but Leamington defended strongly with the back row of Healy, Dalton and Reeve outstanding and we held out until the interval. The breakthrough came ten minutes into the second half, when the Welsh scrum-half burrowed over from close quarters to score the opening try. Leamington retaliated but we were undone when Kit Forrest unluckily fumbled a deep kick ahead with no-one near him and as he attempted to recover, his kick to touch went straight into the hands of the Welsh winger, who put the game beyond us with a second try. A third try followed and although we gained a late consolation score from Nick Blake we went down 14-6.

1st XV April 1980 - Cled O'Connell, Steve McGee, Trevor Roberts, Geoff Farndon, Nick Blake, Jim Doak, Peter Preece - Bill Harris, John Lyne, Paddy Healy, Bill Dalton (captain) Dave Reeve, Tony Evans, Tony Murray, Mark Partington

The cup final team was - Kit Forrest, Mark Partington, Neil Waterfall, Jim Doak, Nick Blake, Peter Preece, Andy Poole, Cled O'Connell, Bill Harris, Steve McGee, Trevor Roberts, John Kane, Bill Dalton, Dave Reeve and Paddy Healy. This was fairly typical of the line-up throughout the season, although John Rawlings and Bob Mallinson played in most of the games and were unlucky to miss the final due to injury. Geoff Farndon, in his last season on the wing, also made a big contribution. The powerful Mark Partington topped the first XV try scorers with 22, which made him the leading points' scorer, from Kit Forrest. There was a welcome return for ex-No8 forward Steve Nicholas, who played for the club for a few weeks prior to the cup final, after an eight year absence. Overall the first team finished with a slightly improved record but our strength in depth was beginning to grow again and the Extras and particularly the Spartans had outstanding seasons. Pat Callaghan was leading scorer for both sides. As in the previous season the Extras played the first-team fixtures on Cup weekends, this time taking on and losing narrowly to Abbey and Evesham and beating Stratford, on a day when all the sides played a team up and achieved a clean sweep. In addition to the pre-Cup games the Extras also took on the first team fixture against Droitwich in the Worcester Floodlit Trophy. The late-season highlight was against Banbury in April when the Extras won 88-3, with four tries for top scorer Fred Blunsden, doing slightly better than the Spartans who managed only 78 points against the Banbury third string that day.

Spartans, April 1980 John Sturley, Alan Reeve, Gerald Townsend, Mick Elkins, John Faulkner, Bill Slora, xxxxxx - Dave Townsend, Fred Emeney, Phil Marsland, Alan Malin (captain) Steve Whitby,Pete Forrest, Richard Cooke,Ken Kelly

The Spartans were only 11 short of the magical 1,000 points for the season and would surely have achieved it had they not had to take on some of the Extras fixtures. Nearly 400 points were scored in a 9 match winning run during February and March, including a club record win of 122-0 over Stratford, with Tony Philpott scoring 6 and Chris Jagger 5, in a 24 try romp. This helped Tony Philpott and Chris Jagger to top the try scorer charts with 27 and 23 respectively over the season. The record breakers were - Simon Chandler, Chris Jagger, Tony Philpott, Pete Oughton, Chas Strickland, Phil Marsland, Roger Maycock, Alan Malin (captain), Fred Emeney, John Sturley (recently joined from Southam), Bob Russell, John Kane, Ian Harwood, Alan Reeve and Kevin Long. The Stags under Peter Payne (abovet) had their best season for some while with 19 wins, including seven straight victories to finish the season.

Early ideas about turning the Tigers into a veterans side, along the lines of Kenilworth Pirates, came to nothing among an early run of cancellations but, led by Norman David for the first time, the problem of lack of games was addressed and the Tigers (below) ended up playing 29 times. Hugh Smith topped the Tigers' scorers and was only just behind Paul Bryan among the Stags scorers. Simon David, aged just 16, made his senior debut for the Tigers at Cirencester in March, the day Bill Beaumont's England team won the Five Nations grand slam at Murrayfield.

The Colts had another outstanding season winning 23 games out of 32, despite an amazingly strong fixture list including the Leicester and Northampton youth sides. In the Warwickshire Cup they defeated Broadstreet and Barkers Butts on the way to the final, when in a repeat of the previous year's match, they again tied with Rugby (12-12) to share the Cup as joint winners. They also repeated their win in the Warwickshire Colts Sevens. Dean Rawlings and Paul Bowkett played for Warwickshire Colts and Huw Lewis trained with the England Colts squad. Kevin Boiles was leading points scorer with 231. Another young player making his way through the junior ranks was Arne Suggett, a Kineton High School pupil who was picked for England Schools under 16s. Sadly Arne was injured in a car accident in the following October and whilst he made a good recovery, he was unable to continue playing rugby.

Colts 1980 Yudi Sahota, Paul Bowkett, Lester Turner, Ian Meikle, Dave McGee, Soggy Reeve, Mark Grimes, Stuart Nunn - Mark Kendall, Andy Compton, Mark Bradley, Pete Elliott, Dean Rawlings, Kevin Boiles, Huw Lewis

Behind the scenes, the Committee decided that Cliff Harrison should be made a Life Committee Member in recognition of his unbroken membership of the Committee since 1926 (he was already a Life Member of the club) and John Richardson who was elected junior Vice President of Warwickshire RFU became its representative on the England RFU, thereby beginning his climb to the top of the game. Work also began on planning a major extension to the clubhouse at a cost of £18,000. Planning permission was granted to extend the dining area and kitchen, a new entrance with adjoining toilets and a new members' lounge at the front of the club.

Mini-rugby celebrated a decade of growth and success during which time it had built up a national reputation. Whilst all age levels enjoyed a fair measure of success, the under-10s won both the Leamington and Wilmslow festivals, beating London Welsh in the Wilmslow event. In all they played 24 matches without defeat, scoring 600 points against only 10 in reply. More of them later! So keen were people to play rugby in those days that unofficial Sunday games were common, with many Leamington players turning out for or organising games against the very social local invitation side, the Old Chumlians, and, within the club an end of season game between the Slotters (those who were in and out of the first team) and the Residue (those who never quite made it) was played for a few seasons, providing the opportunity to settle a few selection scores.

Slotters (above) versus the Residue 1980