THE future of Ellingham & Ringwood Rugby Club is in safe hands with the youth section named as the ‘2011 Junior Club of the Year.’ The Rugby Expo awards recognise achievement and success from both the professional and grassroots game and the junior prize is awarded to an amateur community club that has shown commitment and creativity its day-to-day running and future development.

Rugby Expo, which took place at Twickenham in November, is the leading convention for the business world of rugby, comprising an exhibition and conference programme which focused on the key issues that the sport faces today.

Expo recognised the New For-est-based club’s hard work and commitment over many years, which included the successful move to the new Raymond Brown Memorial Ground in the heart of Ringwood and the recent award of the RFU’s ‘Whole Club Seal of Approval’.

Ellingham & Ringwood’s first XV plays in London Division Three, while their second and third teams line up in the South West Dorset & Wilts leagues.

The youth section features a mini and junior academy with squads in every age group from under-6s to under-16s.

Significant achievements this season include the under-18s girls’ team remaining top of the RFUW’s South Coast League and the under-16s boys’ team still unbeaten in the Hampshire League.

The club’s chairman Peter Pearce said: “We are all really proud to have achieved this award and I’d like to take this opportunity to thank all of our players, their families, the coaches, our sponsors and everyone that helps out in so many ways to make us such a great family club.”