I am a little later than I would have liked in sharing the story of how the Laon tour went, but I hear from Peter Thomas and Boko that it was an unreserved triumph, a massive thank you to both Peter and Edward Le Mas Latrie for organising 160 players and parents brilliantly.

The players were drawn from three age groups. Whilst normally this is a rite of passage tour for the Under 11's as they leave the Minis and enter the Juniors. As two age groups were robbed of the chance to go on tour when they were Under 11's, this tour included both Under 12's and Under 13's who would have gone in 2020 and 2021, but were robbed of the chance by the pandemic.

The photo attached of our Under 13's squad together with their peers from Rugby Club de Laon!

It really was a "one squad" gathering of the two clubs and the attached image speaks to that.

Taking the three age groups made it a great festival atmosphere, and they all got on very well.

Combining the Under 11's and the Under 12's for the rugby made for a good match with the French teams, and they played some great rugby. We had 5 Barnes Under 11/12's teams playing, with seven local clubs, one of which was of a particularly high standard and beat some of our teams.

One of the Barnes teams was the overall tournament winner, so there is a nice wooden shield to come to the clubhouse, and there was even a photo of the presentation to the winners in the local paper yesterday!

Laon were fantastic hosts and really put in a huge effort, Denis especially, but clearly it was a big team effort. The “formalities” led by their president Thierry showed how much they value this tour, and their relationship with Barnes.

There were lots of local dignitaries: the Mayor, the local MP, a senator,the rugby Federation rep etc etc etc all came along and gave short speeches, as did Edward Le Mas Latrie and Peter Thomas to thank them. We have a nice framed silver plate as a gift to Barnes, and a token of their appreciation for us coming, which we will have to find a suitable place in the clubhouse for.

Sunday activities were very interesting, and I’m sure a valuable appreciation of the local WW1 history for all, culminating in the entire group gathering at the “Rugbymen Memorial” for a short but moving act of remembrance and a wreath-laying by the boys.

We returned on Bank Holiday Monday just as the Patrick Crabtree walk to Westminster was returning to the Barnes RFC clubhouse, so a few joined the gathering for that as well, and those present ate all our left over French baguettes and pattiserie from lunch!

What a great success - on y va Laon!