John Chesworth has been elected as Chairman of the club’s management committee having been a committee member since 2005.

John joined the club in 1980 playing in the under 9’s team of the club’s mini-section, or the Fireflies as it was then known.  He progressed through the mini-junior section to the Colts (U 19s) where he forged long-term friendships with many people who are still involved in the club today.   After being invited on the senior club tour to France in the summer of 1990, John was selected for the First Team for the 1990/1991 season and played for 13 seasons, including 3 seasons in National League 1 following the memorable promotion season of 1998/1999.  John’s last season in the First Team was the 2002/2003 season, during which he captained the side and lifted the Lancashire Cup for the first time in the club’s history.   John also represented Lancashire at senior level in the mid-1990s.  After his First Team days were over,  John played for the social teams at Hoppers, renewing old friendships and making new ones in the “casuals” side for whom he played until 2008.

John was an inaugural member of the Hoppers Cricket Team playing for a number of seasons, and along with Simon Mulholland and Neil Ashton helped establish the Hoppers Rollers cycling club.

John is the Executive Chairman of Harrison Drury Solicitors, and found his way into the profession through the Hoppers back in 1995 when club stalwarts and partners at Banks Wilson Solicitors, George Erdozain and Richard Eastwood, took a chance hiring the trainee solicitor who was at the time “a half-decent full back”.  John is also involved in a number of organisations promoting business in the area including the Lancashire Business Board and the Preston Partnership.

John is married to Joanna, and they have three children Elodie, Henry and Ava.

John hopes to continue the excellent work of his predecessor Neil Ashton to make Hoppers a welcoming, positive and inclusive “One-Club” environment with the aim of playing attractive, competitive and enjoyable rugby at all levels, and will seek to develop our facilities for the benefit of our members, supporters and communities, in a sustainable manner.

Graham Cox
Honorary Secretary