Having announced four new signings last week, we are still in the process of completing further deals which will bring additional new players into the squad for the start of next season. Despite all the speculation and rumours that are about at this time, it is important that we as a club remain silent in terms of possible names arriving at the Stoop, until such time when the contracts are signed. Unfortunately, I cannot put a time scale on this as some deals take longer than others to finalise; suffice to say we will make further announcements as soon as we can.

The training ground is very quiet at this time of year. Last week both Dafydd James and Joe Mbu completed their medicals and today (Wednesday) Jeremy Staunton will be seeing the fitness and medical staff to undergo a similar examination. Maurice Fitzgerald is still busy playing for his club Biarritz, so we will not be seeing him until the end of July.

Also at this time of the year, a lot of time and effort is put into reviewing the previous season and looking at ways where we can improve for the future. All standard business practice; the difference perhaps being that we have a window of just over five weeks to get everything in place before the players return to Aldershot on 5th July, when they will undergo a series of fitness and weights tests amongst many other 'welcoming home' exercises.

We will look at improving all areas of the training ground, from facilities to the way we put the training schedules together. All the management, as well as Andre Vos, have been involved as we look to get off to a good start ahead of the new season.

In terms of pre-season fixtures, we should be able to confirm these next week but it is very likely that we will be travelling to Ulster after the Middlesex Sevens to play Belfast Harlequins and Ulster. We will be playing Bedford on Wednesday 11th August at Goldington Road, but we are still looking to confirm our opponents for the weekend of 27th August.

With the international squads all travelling off this week there is still an endless supply of rugby available to those of us who want it, but I must admit I did enjoy my first weekend off since early August!

Finally, congratulations to London Wasps on becoming the Zurich Premiership Champions on Saturday.

Speak to you all next week, and do not forget it is still possible to order your Season Ticket for next season by calling 0871 871 8877 - but hurry, they are going fast!