On the 20th November we said our farewell to Chris. A small family service was held, quite fittingly, at the rugby club where our President, Doug Skelton, was asked to deliver the Eulogy. We thought you might like to read an edited version of Doug's words..

Some of our senior players formed a guard of honour when leaving the grounds and Chris made his way through Selby Town Centre, where I am sure many of you paid your last respects.

Ghris Guthrie
Eulogy Edited Version

Everyone knew Chris and Chris knew everyone. Chris always made time to speak with people whenever they arrived at the Club. He remembered their names and made them feel welcome. He knew them and he knew their families. Chris was a gentleman, true gentleman.

Many will have shed a tear at the thought of Chris passing. Such is the genuine measure love and respect everyone at the Club had for Chris and the sadness they feel at his sudden passing. Young or old, male or female, past members and present alike.

Everyone liked Chris and Chris liked everyone back. Chris was always full of stories and would occasionally let slip that he had done this or that, but you had to press him in the conversation to get the full details of what was a very interesting and varied background.

Chris may have told you that he played for York RI. He may even have told you that he captained them to two North Yorkshire Cup successes, something he was very proud of.

Chris became involved with the Club when he and Mags moved to Selby in the Travelling each weekend to York for his rugby was proving in Chris words to be a “bit of a bind” and so he pitched up at Selby. RI’s loss was Selby’s gain and it did not take Chris long to get involved as a volunteer turning his hand to anything and everything. He was always one of the first to put his hand up for the Matchday Manager duties.

Chris was elected as Club Secretary in 2011 a post he held until 2018. He helped to set up and run the 200 Club fundraiser earning the title awarded to him by the then Club President Reg Phillips as the new Secretary “Chris have you paid your 200 Club yet Guthrie. Reg told members “you will soon find out why” as indeed we did.

Chris was always there at Selby resplendent in his Green Blazer. He was always there to greet everyone with a smile and a kind word but there was the other

“no nonsense” side to Chris as enforcer. Chris was very proud that our club is a family and very keen to ensure high standards at all times. He sat on the Disciplinary Panel to make sure indiscretions and misdemeanours were dealt with firmly and fairly and that everything was sorted.

Quietly sorting things out is what Chris did very well. New ideas in a Rugby Club are always contentious. You might think attempting to introduce changes with long term aims and objectives particularly when they target the Club Management structure might be met with suspicion by a rugby conservative such as Chris, but that was not the case. Chris backed the new approaches with enthusiasm and with a “leave it with me” he would disappear off to discuss and sort out the issues with the influential membership, reappearing at the following Wednesday meeting to confirm it would be ok to crack on.

When the 2012-13 season started, some of the new Board members suggested to Chris that they would like to take walk around the mini and junior sections on their second Training Sunday of September. It was so the Board could meet the volunteers at each age group and find out if they were happy with what they were getting from the club and if not, what they needed. Chris made out it would be a great adventure and come the Sunday the party set off. Apparently they only got as far as the archery range and didn’t really get any further because Chris was besieged. The Board realised all they needed to do was talk things through with Chris and so they retired to the bar to wait for Chris to return.

Chris loved our rugby club family and he loved it with a passion. Stepping down from his role as Honorary Secretary Chris was elected to serve as a Vice President and awarded a Life Membership of the Club. He must have been on holiday at the time of the AGM, so we had to arrange to present him with his badges early in preseason.

We called him out one Saturday afternoon to make the presentation. Chris was the only one in the room who was blissfully unaware of what was about to happen. As the crowd gathered around, Chris began to realise he was being set up.

I pulled out a set of step ladders from behind the bar set them out in front of Chris and climbed them. It was the first time I had ever been able to eyeball him. I pinned the badges on his shirt and followed it up by giving him a great big kiss which was very much a surprise to him, but it was much to his

amusement. The photographs of that day show the delight on his face I assume for the recognition he had been given from the Club.

Many have expressed their respect for Chris in little stories and anecdotes. Many might actually be true as much of the original detail will have been lost in the foggy indulgence of Yorkshire Blond or White Rat. One of my favourites is a story that Bes told me recently. Bes saw Chris about to walk home after Selection meeting. Ascertaining that Chris was intending to walk and not wait for Margaret, Bes did what any decent Club man would do for the Club’s Honorary Secretary and offer him a lift home. Bes then spent the next 10 minutes in uncontrolled laughter seeing this giant of a man attempt fold himself into the passenger seat of Bes’s MX 5 two-seater soft top sports car and it and then a further 15 minutes outside Chris’s house as he tried to extricate himself. The drive time only took 5 minutes.

I last spoke with Chris a few weeks before he became ill. He and I both had the same idea of coming down to the Club on one of the training nights to see what was going on. Chris, Chris Young and myself had a few beers together and we had a few laughs. I recall he said to me “I have really enjoyed being back at the Club and I have not laughed like this for a long time”.

That is how I will remember Chris, at his Club, having a beer and laugh with people who had real affection for him.

Chris loved the rugby club community and the rugby community will sadly miss Mr. Christopher Robert Guthrie.