Harrogate Pythons RUFC held their Annual Dinner at The Old Swan Hotel. With 270 guests the Premiership’s All Time Leading Try Scorer, at the time of the dinner, Chris Ashton took part in an entertaining Q&A session with MC John Inverdale. This was John’s 4th time MCing The Pythons’ Dinner and he used his sporting knowledge to ask some great questions about Chris’ rugby journey. Chris explained his cross over from Rugby League to Rugby Union. How the totally different game took him several months to get to grips with and the frustrations he felt alongside his disciplinary exploits most of which had the guests in howls of laughter.
The 2011 RWC provided some great stories. Managed by Martin Johnson, Chris was one of the youngest squad members at 24 and certainly enjoyed his tour around New Zealand. He explained the true stories behind some of the antics reported in the press at the time including a variation of darts….games of chance and jumping into deep water! On the field he was the tournament’s joint leading try scorer with 6 taking England into the quarter finals where they eventually lost to runners up France.
The live auction included a replica RWC 2011 shirt which Chris added to with a promise of some playing and training stash from the tournament – a generous offer. John managed the auction and heads n tails, a great evening.
Chairman and organiser Julian Tatlow said, “The generosity of sponsors and guests never ceases to amaze me. We had offers of financial support for our Player Athletic Development Programme and someone even bought a prestigious Patron Membership.” He continued, ”These are difficult times and numbers were a bit down but our main sponsors came through. Dave Wheat at Don Elec supported us for the 13th time, Oracle Finance had 3 tables this year – thanks Peter Brook and his Team. A new, Main Sponsor Cob Castle Ltd, Chris Bingham literally straight off the plane from the Far East there with his guests. Impulse Decisions held a superb Silent Auction once again and Haddleton & Co Ltd provided every table with a bottle of port, thanks James Haddleton what a fantastic gesture”. “It looks like we will make around £15k for our club – this is a key income stream and is massively appreciated by all our members and players”, he concluded.
