by Dave Coldwell

BATH LC celebrated the 20th anniversary of their popular Bath 8’s Tournament earlier this season and teamed up with English Lacrosse in making the event its headline event as part of Sports Month’s ‘Year of the Volunteer.’

The event was promoted on the Sports Month website for ‘Year of the Volunteer’ and also on the English Lacrosse website.

And it was fitting that the Bath club won an award from Bath & Northeast Somerset Council for being the council’s first locally advertised event on the Sportsmonth website, thus securing free places on future volunteering courses, information toolkits and resource packs.

Thanks went to veteran Bath member Nik Roberts for helping to recruit and coordinate the efforts of the volunteers in helping to run the bar, raffle, barbecue, parking, and fastest shot competitions.

There was a wide range of volunteers on the day and it was great to see so many young volunteers helping out. All volunteers were given Year of the Volunteer T-shirts, wristbands, and pin badges for their efforts.

However, the tournament would not be as popular as it is today without the help of tournament organiser Jon Harrop. Jon has organised the tournament since its inception and was presented with an English Lacrosse Volunteer Service Award to mark his fantastic achievement, presented to him by Trevor Rogers, SEMLA President.

‘It was quite a surprise when I was given the award,’ said a delighted Harrop, also the Bath Secretary and South Referees Training Officer. ‘It’s very pleasing to get recognised for my work. I’ve been involved with lacrosse for over 40 years and it’s great to see the game doing so well. The Bath Eights Tournament started as a daft idea, but the competition has grown and grown. We started with 10 teams and now there are 31, so it just proves how popular the tournament has become'.

Well done to Jon and Bath LC for all their efforts and superbly run event.