The Club celebrated its 75th. Anniversary during the 1974/75 season and Dennis Huxstep was honoured with the Presidency for this special year. He was the ideal choice having been completely involved with the Club over the previous twenty-five years. Dennis was Fixture Secretary from 1962-1980 and always ensured that the Club had a strong fixture list. He excelled himself in 1974/75 by including fixtures against Sale, Broughton Park, Manchester, Morley, Orrell, Otley and Worcester on an already strong fixture list. There were also two showpiece games in April 1975. The first of these games was against the well-known invitation side Anti-Assassins, which Moor won 16-10, and the final game of the season was between a combined Heaton Moor & Davenport XV and the Lancashire Presidents XV, which the combined side lost 34-0. The First XV captain was Mike Bishop and the team finished with the creditable record of nineteen wins and a draw in the forty-three games played. On 25th. October 1974, the 75th. Anniversary Dinner was held at the Valley Lodge Hotel when our guests included former England Internationals Eric Evans, Reg Higgins, Dickie Jeeps and Peter Yarranton. Other distinguished guests included His Grace, the Duke of Devonshire, who was a Vice-President of the Club for many years, Viscount Lewisham, Sir Douglas Clover, the Mayor of Stockport and representatives from the clubs on our fixture list. Jeff Smith, who was Assistant Club Secretary at the time, handled the ticket sales for this grand occasion with great efficiency.

Brian Duckworth took over the Presidency in 1975/76 after a number of years service to the Club, both on and off the field of play. His role as Publicity Officer in the previous three years helped to keep the playing exploits and the 75th. Anniversary in the public eye. These exploits helped to strengthen the fixture list and a notable addition was that of Stewart's Melville P.P. in Edinburgh. The First XV played forty-four games under the captaincy of Charlie Beadle, a number only ever bettered before or since by the forty-six played in 1973/74, and he, along with prop-forward Bob Garnett, played in all forty-four. Charlie was a former Sale and Kendal winger who made his debut for Heaton Moor in September 1973 and finished the 1975/76 season as the leading try-scorer with 13 tries. A very successful Easter tour took place to the South West, with victories over Newton Abbot, Paignton and Exmouth, but the low-point must have been the team's exit from the Lancashire Cup when they were beaten 6-0 away to Ford Halewood, a result that was even more unbelievable given their Cup run of only two years previously. Prior to the start of the season, the Club lost two key members of the pack when Philip Davies and Brian Wilkinson accepted invitations to join Sale where they both enjoyed first team rugby.

By 1976 there were eighteen primary schools playing mini-rugby in the Stockport area. This was due to the initiative taken some years earlier by the local Norris Bank Primary School headmaster, Travis Ollerenshaw, who Moor had possibly the best mini and junior rugby sections in the North West and one of the top Colts XVs in Lancashire. The Annual Dinner was held in May 1976 at the Grand Hotel, Manchester, when our principal guest was Mike Burton, the British Lions prop, who is better known today as a promoter, agent and corporate hospitality supremo. This was the last season for the operation of the General Committee in its management of club affairs as it was felt that the 'free-for-all' nature of the committee meetings was not conducive to the smooth running of the Club. The format for its replacement, the Executive Committee, was formulated by Len Mather.

Other new fixtures were added in 1976/77, and included Streatham and Croydon in London and Penarth in South Wales. This strong fixture list was proving to be a burden, however, as the First XV squad, led by prop-forward David Faulkner, had lost a number of key players following the success in recent years and some heavy defeats were registered. The new Executive Committee comprised of eight members; Bill Maynard, Bob Howard and John Royle being Chairman, General Secretary and Treasurer respectively, together with four chairmen of sub¬committees and the President.  John Jeskins took over the role of Referees' Society.

John Whelan commenced his two-year stint as President in 1977/78, and the season was to be remembered for an event that was to have a far-reaching effect on the playing strength of the Club for nearly two decades and from which, it could be argued, it still has not fully recovered and has suppressed the development of the Club whilst others in the area have prospered. The mini and junior section had continued to flourish since its inception some five years previously and the large number of participants in every age - group up to Colts level had begun to put a strain on the Club's infrastructure. A resultant showdown between the Executive Committee and the mini organisers resulted in about half of this section leaving the Club and joining neighbouring club Burnage.

The Club Coach, Norman Heginbotham, who had joined from Oldham towards the end of the previous season, had the job of re¬building the First XV forwards as the entire regular front-row from the preceding year had left to join Manchester. In his second term as Second XV captain, Alan Corlett fractured his leg at the start of the season, severely curtailing his playing career for the rest of the year. This was doubly cruel, as the same set of circumstances had occurred only twelve months earlier! And they say that lightning never strikes twice... On a brighter note, the Third XV, captained by David Hall, son of Reg, lost only once before Christmas and suffered only nine defeats in the whole season. David had come out of retirement and had encouraged others, including Mike Bishop, Colin Beer, Graham Drage and Geoff Costello, to do likewise, forming a formidable side with consequential success.
 
The Colts XV also enjoyed a rewarding year under Alistair Perkins, winning twenty-two and drawing one of their thirty-five games and completed an  undefeated tour of the North East at Easter, beating Durham City, Blaydon.

John Morgan continued as a popular Club Captain in 1978/79, a job he had taken over half-way through the previous season as a result of the resignation of the previous incumbent due to domestic reasons. The Club won the Toc H Sevens tournament at' the end of this season and it also proved to be the last time for^ seventeen years that the First XV won more games than they lost.

The Presidency passed to Bill Maynard in 1979/80 and completed an eminent career for him as player and administrator in the Club stretching back to the 1960s. Brian Wilkinson returned from Sale to captain the Club and brought other experienced players with him to boost the playing strength. Whilst at Sale, Brian had distinguished himself by winning a number of Cheshire caps. With the decline in the number of schools in the area playing rugby, together with the Club's own junior section being decimated by the split two years earlier, the Colts XV was beginning to struggle to field a side each week and the season proved to be their last for a couple of years. Another era was brought to a close when Dennis Huxstep retired as Fixture Secretary after eighteen consecutive years. In 1980/81, Dr. John Lansbury, who was one of the players to have moved from Sale the previous year, became Club Captain. John had the distinction of being an ex-Sale captain and the hooker in the victorious North West Counties side that beat the All Blacks at Workington in 1972. Under his leadership, the First XV had a good run in the Lancashire Cup, losing in the fourth round to Widnes, and winning the 15-aside Whitchurch tournament. For the first time in five years, a Club tour was organised, this time to East Anglia, with narrow defeats against Diss, North Walsham and Norwich.

After eight successive years as Fifth XV captain, Neville Mars retired from the game. Nev was unsurpassed in his ability to conjure up a side on a Friday night from the clientele of the local hostelries. Many a subsequent First XV player started on his team, having just moved into the area and been persuaded by Nev that his was the only side worth playing for! The mini section had success in the Glengarth Finals with two age groups getting through to their respective finals, winning one of them. Sadly, Reg Hall passed away during the season. Much has previously been written about Reg regarding his unflinching support and promotion of Moor and Lancashire rugby and his death meant the loss of one of the game's real characters. David Goddard began his spell as President in 1981 /82 following two years as Chairman of the Executive Committee and other playing and administrative roles in the '60s and '70s. John Ashley was made Club Captain following his move from Manchester and had the job of re-building and consolidating the First XV after a number of retirements at the end of the previous season. Former Colts XV captain, Neil Sinclair, son of Ian, gained his first Cheshire cap whilst playing at Sale, and followed it up with an England U23 squad place the following season. Neil had previously gained representative honours with Manchester and Cheshire Schools and Lancashire Schools 19 Croup in the '70s whilst playing at Moor.

The 1982/83 Captain was Bob Garnett who had re-joined the Club after a stint at Manchester. The Colts XV was restarted after an absence of two years by Bob Howard and Dennis Huxstep as it was recognised that a youth team was vital to the progression of the Club. During this season, ex-First XV captain, Dr. Ian Nixon, who had moved to the U.S.A. in 1972, took charge of the Canada vs. England rugby match in Vancouver, one of six international matches that he refereed in the '80s. Ian went on to further distinguish himself in the '90s by becoming President of U.S.A. Rugby for four years and the U.S.A. representative on the International Rugby Board for eight years. This season was also notable for the formation of a touring side, the Groundhogs, by Nigel Slater, Martin McKeown and Ian Jennings-Brown. The bulk of the players on this side were from the Fifth XV, but membership was open to anyone from our own Club or from outside. The 'Hogs have toured to all four of the Home nations, but have made a speciality of going to the Isle of Man and it is fair to say that over the years, emphasis has been put more on the social activities than on the playing side of each tour! For the first time in a number of years, the incoming President for 1983/84 was not a current club officer. Jim Walsh, who had served the Club with distinction in the '50s and '60s, followed by eight years with the County, took on the job with enthusiasm, bringing to the post all the experience he had gained with Lancashire.