Tom Hitchins, properly and deservedly, succeeded George Cross as President. Stand-off Mike Worth, another in the line of schoolmaster in that position was Captain, Dave Osborne leading the Wanderers.
Dave Sharpe took over as Secretary, whilst the notice of the meeting created a new office of “Vice Secretary” to be filled by Mrs Sharpe – happily amended in the fixture card to Assistant Hon. Sec.
There was an indifferent start – three successive defeats, but a first round Devon Cup win over Dartmouth 29-22, the Club having 25-6! It was Okehampton who barred further progress, 0-20, although the Club obtained a measure of revenge later in the year, 11-6. Launceston were contained 6-8 at Bickleigh Down but Newquay Hornets and Bideford inflicted heavy defeats. In the Havill Plate, Argaum lost to Plymouth Civil Service by a Roger Harris try, to 2 Bowden dropped goals. In the mean time, the Wanderers and the Colts struggled on with mixed fortunes. Notably, Frank Lavis made a (gradual) disappearance from the back row trio.
Additional Notes (R.Belli): For the 1980-81 season, Mike Worth was captain of The Chiefs and Dave Osborne led the Wanderers. Both sides recorded 18 wins and a draw, from 39 and 36 matches respectively. In the county cup, The Chiefs progressed against Dartmouth in the first round but were beaten by Okehampton in the next. Civil Service ended interest in the Havill Plate with a narrow 6-4 win. The double was done over Teignmouth, new to the fixture list, whilst tourists included Merseyside Police, Old Persians, Old Patesians and Llandaff North. Bideford was another ambitious fixture on the calendar (the match programme can be seen in this album). The Wanderers were eliminated from the Lockie Cup by Tavistock. For both sides, consistency of selection was hampered by a glut of injuries.
The colts, skippered by Dave Squire had a young squad but showed promise. Julian Eccles continued a recent tradition when he represented the county colts XV.
Argaum’s internal newsletter, The Argaum Argus was revived, with Ian Ramsey as Editor. Now called The Argos, this was a substantial offering with a Captain’s Page, Rugby Song lyrics and a quiz. It also contained some good match reports and scoring statistics and with 6 issues during the season made this one of the best-documented yet.
Club Finances (and the lack of them) came into sharp focus during the season with a number of significant purchases including £700 on the boiler. Many put their hands in their pockets to steer the club through difficult times. It was recognised that social events were now an important source of revenue and, in an effort to increase that income stream, the committee appointed ex-Devonport Services Bill Annandale as club steward in May. In one of his first reports to the committee he was less than enamoured with the state of the place after a social event with our boisterous friends, The Young Farmers.
Peter Green toiled away in the club kitchen which returned a small profit and at the AGM there was applause when the facts and figures were announced. 1024 meals, 1460lb of chips and 1636 pies! The captains trophy was won by Geoff Baskerville, Effort Award – Tim Rapier and The Clubman a joint award to The Peters (Gamblen and Green).
