Last year's Sports Day was such a success that the Youth Club decided to repeat the event this year, on Monday, August 27th.

We were uncertain how many people would turn up this year, because last year's event had been tied with the Millennium Festival week.

We need not have worried, because we had more children there this year than at the previous Sports Day, and the weather kindly provided us with a gloriously sunny day.

The younger children in the village have been taking part in the Dragon Sports Scheme during the last few months. Wally Wenzel and Emma Newton (the sports representative .from Monmouthshire County Council) have been doing an athletics programme with the children on Thursday evenings. It has proved very successful with the youngsters.

Emma came along to the sports, bringing with her a fabulous Dragon costume which was paraded around the field all afternoon, worn by a number of the older teenagers. It was so hot inside the outfit that after about thirty minutes they had to come out for air!

The P.A. system was, once again, loaned to us by Terry Victor, and Ian Williams and Nick Hodges took charge of setting up the system and making sure it ran smoothly all afternoon. Thanks, boys!

Wally Wenzel marked out the field for both the sports and the football, and we were able to use items from the Dragon Sports kit for the events. Wally worked very hard and ended up with severe backache... I hope it's better now, Wally, and thanks a million for your hard work.

Mark Lewis took charge of running the events and seems completely at ease with a microphone in his hand. Dilys Mather organised the teas, and Diane Thomas and her family sold an enormous amount of sweets and canned drinks on the tuck stand. Grateful thanks to all of them.

Bryan Morgan and his brother David took some excellent photographs.Bryan has put his pictures on the website to accompany this report, and David has given me a large number of photographs which can be viewed if you get in touch with me.

Well, what can I say about the youngsters? They were marvellous! Many of them helped us early in the day to put up the bunting, tie up the balloons and to carry out the tables and chairs we needed for seating. No mean task for small children! It was a delight to see all of the youngsters eagerly taking part in the events - our youngest racer, I believe, was two year old Byron Smith-Carmichael!

During the afternoon one of the teenage boys said he was "fed up with winning bronze medals" - he had won two. I told him that if he tried that little bit harder in his next event he might win a silver or gold medal. He promptly ran his event and won the gold medal!

However, there were no losers on the day - to my mind they were all winners for their efforts during the afternoon. Thanks to them all for making it such an enjoyable afternoon.

And to the parents who didn't come along and watch their children racing - please come next year - we can guarantee that you will enjoy yourselves.

Jackie Williams
Caerwent Youth Club