The 2010/11 season saw several clubs in the London & South East Divisions finding money to pay some of their players but Folkestone continue in their Corinthian spirit. It is more important to us that our players enjoy themselves and enjoy playing rugby. The club Exec realised that paying players was all very well but what happens when the money runs out? So with the continuing development of our youngsters we look to field teams with good local talent as well as helping to develop players from the Emerging Nations of rugby. The John V Kidson Import Export Scheme continues with it's priority which is to develop talent from the new rugby countries like Poland and Estonia and for this season Taavi Ermel will be again joining us. Joe Hull who flew up from New Zealand in 2009 to play for the club has so enjoyed his stay that he wants to stay for another season and the club are helping him with his application to extend his visa.

On the international front, Catherine Spencer having led her England Ladies to the Six Nations Championship now prepares for the World Cup and she knows that every Folkestone supporter , English or not, will be right behind her as she hunts for yet more silverware.

Before the league season new coach Darren Molloy managed to set a new, optimistic and positive attitude from his players. In his first match the team lost narrowly to Maidstone who had just been relegated down to London 2 but were still a division higher than us. In the next game the lads walloped Ashford and then Whistable and in between those games Folkestone won the Spitfire Tournament beating Ashford in the final and without conceding a point in their 6 matches on the day.

Catherine Spencer was hardly ever off television screens during the Women's World Cup as she led her England team to the final coming very close to beating the Black Ferns but just failing. It was good to see her come home again at the club's first VP Lunch of the season together with former Folkestone team mates, Angela Smith and Maxine Couzens.

The 1st XV got off to a great start in the 2011/12 season with wins in preseason friendlies against Fullerians, Charlton Park and mighty Canterbury - all teams in higher divisions. In the preseason Spitfire Tournament the team could not retain their title after losing by a single score to Medway who went on to win the trophy.

The first match of the league season saw the return of Medway to the club but this time won a thriller by a single point. It was a great start to the season and a packed club roared their favourites on to victory.
Coach Molloy had a formidable team of coaches to assist him. Steve Milward focussed on the forwards, Tom Johnson took on the backs and Leigh Fitchie looked after the conditioning and fitness.
The 1st XV then went on a long unbeaten run where including the 3 pre-season matches, they won 13 matches on the trot. That first defeat came at Crowborough who went on to deservedly win the League.
The team bounced back to win their next 2 games before the Christmas break but a team full of cobwebs lost their first match of 2012 at Maidstone. In the remaining games of the season the team won 6 of their 9 matches and drawing with Sheppey but losing to Bromley and Crowborough. Injuries had taken a terrible toll on the team and on many weekends there was up to 15 players unavailable for injury. Folkestone were in the promotion hunt almost to the end of the season but those 2 defeats and 1 5 point deduction because of an administrative error when an unregistered player took part in the victory over Crawley. Crawley eventually withdrew from the league making all their games void so the club appealed against the 5 point deduction. But the decision was upheld.
Meanwhile the 2nd XV were scoring tries for fun as a seriously good mixture of mature and young players put in some terrific performances pushing an experienced Sidcup all the way in the Invicta league. Eventually they finished second in the table.
The fairer sex also enjoyed their season. Folkestone Ladies led by Hailey Morgan had a mixed season. They were up against some very experienced teams but showed their potential with 2 fine victories to end the season. They are going to get better and better as the club's junior section will be pushing through some very good players into the squad in the coming seasons. The Under 18 Fillies won the Kent League and the Kent Sevens. Folkestone remain one of the few clubs to field their own ladies and Fillies teams whereas other clubs merge together to make up a team. Coach Keith Trolley Howland has enthusiastically coached the girls for many seasons and at the club's Presentation Dinner that enthusiasm and commitment were rewarded when he was presented with the Vice President's Cup as the Clubman of the year.

Other players honoured at the Dinner were:

Vets Player of the Year Andy Burrows
4th XV PoY Alex Simpson
3rd XV PoY Tom Nunn
2nd XV PoY Adam Bloomfield
1st XV PoY Will Massey
2nd XV Supporters Award David Ballard
1st XV Supporters Award Rob Hudson
Selection Committee Award Richard Lama
Top Try Scorer Ben Brooks
Top Points Scorer Seyhan Fell
1st XV Player’s Player Jon Morton
Sportsman of The Year Paul Williamson
Best Young Player Joe Satchell
Most Promising Player Jack Cox
Most Improved Player Charlie Williams
Coaches Trophy Moose Murray
Burlington Balls Richard Puddy

Richard Puddy winning the top playing award was great reflection of the John Kidson Import Export Company. This season Mr Kidson was greatly assisted by Rod Pittam, Bob Jones and Tom O'Sullivan and we saw probably the best ever foreign players to come to the club. In from the Czech Republic came Jakub Kopriva and Michal Krizanek. And all the way from New Zealand and recommended by Joe Hull we welcomed Scotty Evans and Richard Puddy. Every one of them featured in the 1st XV squad and were loved by the supporters for their sheer exuberance.

There was a bad part of the season when we heard that John Kidson's wife, Erna suffered a severe stroke. Things got worse when John spent 2 weeks in hospital after a fall at home. Eventually he was allowed home and was soon reunited with Erna who also came home after staying in a nursing home while John was in hospital. This wonderful couple continue to grow old gracefully and in John's case, cheekily!

The season ended with the 1st XV travelling to Medway for their final match. The squad was in determined mood having lost to Medway in the Spitfire and also lost the runners-up spot in the league to them and the massive Stones support who followed the lads to Rochester saw the best performance of the season. The home team wanted to finish with a win and the home supporters were very confident of a win but the Stones youngsters and a 39 year old prop, Paul Williamson, wiped the smiles off their faces when Ben Brooks scored the final try in a 34-31 win.

Paul then took a squad of mad people called the Blue Nun Brigade to the Castle Cary Sevens. They were there to defend their title of Most Entertaining Team (off the pitch) but just failed although dressed as sailors on and off the pitch they gave everything. Unfortunately Jack McMurray was badly injured during the tournament and had to remain in Yeovil Hospital for several days. At the time of writing he is much improved but will be unable to do much for about 6 more weeks. He should be fit for next season's Spitfire though. The Stones were very very appreciative of how Castle Cary RFC looked after Jack and their players visited him in hospital every day. We now look forward to welcoming Castle Cary to our Spitfire in August when there will be a ladies event alongside the men's tournament for the first time.

John Kidson | Yvonne Turner | Phil Cooper