DURSLEY chairman Simon Bilous received a Gloucestershire Award at the County Rugby AGM in Stroud.

The award is given for services to rugby in Gloucestershire over a considerable period and was presented to him by County Rugby president Geoff Davis.

Bilous has made a significant contribution to Dursley Rugby Club both on and off the field since joining in 1985 and has also been involved in district rugby.

In his early days with the club Bilous played in the first team and soon took on administrative responsibilities.

In 1990 he joined the committee as membership secretary and took on other responsibilities.

Three years later he was instrumental in forming the mini and youth section across all the age groups, which has since produced the likes of Gloucester and England stars Ben Morgan and Charlie Sharples.

Up to this time a few age groups had been run for a number of years on an ad hoc basis so this was a major step for the club.

Bilous took on the role of chairman of the youth section, which now has over 400 registered players and is one of the largest in the region.

In 1994 Bilous took on more roles as hon club secretary, fixture secretary, and kit supplies as well as undertaking mini and youth coaching duties.

After passing on the role of chairman of the mini and youth section, he became involved with organising the first mini and youth Dursley Festival, which started with just a few local clubs, and is run currently over two weekends with 60 teams and over 1,000 players taking part.

In 2002 Bilous took on the role of senior rugby manager and had the pleasure of seeing the fruits of his labours from the youth section as the first crop of players moved up to the senior sides.

He is now chairman of the management board and in recognition of his efforts over many years he was made a life member of the club in 2010.

Much of the success of Dursley Rugby Club in the development of the facilities, the development of young players who have gone on to senior clubs as well as representative rugby at county and national levels and the impact on the local community, can be linked to the enthusiasm and contribution of Bilous.

Thanks to him and others like him the Dursley Rugby Club has a very bright future.