IT WAS a case of "Hello Goodbye" at this week's Gateway Rugby visit to Raglan Primary School.

The School has participated in Newport Rugby Club's innovative development programme over the past few months and has had Janice Chappell as its Community Development Officer. However, with new Gateway CDO Alun "Archie" Evans living just down the road in Abergavenny, the scheme's managers have decided to make the change.

So headteacher Liz Blakemore and her pupils used the latest session, on Tuesday this week, as a chance to say "Hello" to Archie and "Goodbye" to Janice.

Mrs Blakemore said, "Janice has been a credit to Gateway Rugby. Her enthusiasm and commitment has been infectious and the children are more enthusiastic and more skillful as a result of her fortnightly input. Whilst she will be greatly missed by staff and children alike we are very fortunate to have a ready-made replacement in Archie who is very experienced and having accompanied Janice on her last two visits to the school has already built excellent relationships with the pupils".

Outgoing CDO Janice said, "Coaching at Raglan has been a real pleasure. A combination of supportive staff and keen, attentive children has made for a very enjoyable series of sessions where I think we've achieved a great deal. The children have developed a good array of skills and seem more confident generally. Whilst I'll miss them, I know that Archie is the right person to take them onto the next level".

Local man Evans is looking forward to taking responsibility for Raglan and for the 20 or so primary schools of northern Monmouthshire. He said, "Janice and our other CDO Gareth Mahoney have both done some terrific work in our primary schools and my job is made all the easier as a result. Our goal now is to take Gateway Rugby into every school and to put the building blocks in place that help create a new generation of highly-skilled, motivated & well-adjusted young players to people a whole variety of sports, not just rugby".

And the fortnightly visit to Raglan Primary? "Really looking forward to it except that my not being the tallest man in the world, means that a couple of their bigger lads keep trying to pinch my Newport beanie hat !!"