There’s plenty of optimism around Stroud Rugby Club ahead of the new season and it’s not difficult to see why.

The club enjoyed a successful campaign last time out, finishing in the top four of what is a very competitive Western Counties North.

It will be competitive in 2019/20 as well, of course, but Stroud chairman Roger Hughes, who is also the club’s secretary, believes the club can do even better than last season.

“A lot of us feel that we can manage a division above, that’s the ambition,” said Hughes. “It’s something that both the players and the committee want.”

A promotion campaign would take the club into either South West One East or South West One West and whether that happens this season or not, Hughes is confident that the club will remain in a good place.

“We’re a very happy club, the players all get on,” he said. “We’ve been reasonably successful over the past couple of years and we’ve played some very good, open rugby. There’s a good feeling in the club.”

These days the club run two senior teams on a Saturday afternoon – the club also have a thriving junior section – with Hughes adding: “The bigger the squad the more chance you have of success. You need more than 15 players to launch a promotion push.”

When Hughes first joined Stroud in the mid-70s he was into his 30s having played most of his rugby at first Taunton and then Streatham and Croydon.

“I was a wing forward,” he said. “When I joined Stroud I played a number of seasons for the Gothamites who were the club’s 3rd team and then after I stopped playing I became the club’s membership secretary for a while.”

Family and work commitments meant he slowly drifted away but it was someone very well known around Stroud Rugby Club who enticed him back.

“I went to a rugby dinner and I was sat next to Russell Hillier,” laughed Hughes. “I told him I’d like to get a bit more involved with the club, I wanted to give something back to the club.

“I must have had too much wine because the next thing I knew I was the club’s secretary!”

It’s a position he still holds of course and he’s now into his third and final year as chairman of the club.

But while he’s only got one more season in that role there are still things he’d like to achieve.

“We’re desperate for land to rent, a 10-year lease would be ideal,” he said. “We’ve only got the one pitch and we currently use a couple of school pitches on Sunday mornings for our juniors.”

Anyone who can help should call Hughes on 07803 043005.