Wooden Spoon
Wooden Spoon is rugby’s charity supporting mentally, physically and socially disadvantaged children and young people. Spoon has committed to over £13 million in spending for projects for children and young people. It has organised over 2,000 events and had over 25,000 ties worn by its loyal members and supporters. Hardworking staff and volunteers have achieved all of this since the birth of the charity.
2008 sees the 25th anniversary of Wooden Spoon. It all began in 1983 after defeat to the Irish in Dublin, where a group of English rugby supporters were presented with a Wooden Spoon by their opponents to mark the historic occasion. The first Spoon event, a golf day in Farnham, raised £8,450 to buy a minibus for a special needs school and in doingso launched the charity. Today, we are the charity of the British and Irish Rugby Unions with HRH the Princess Royal as our patron. We have grown to 44 regions nationwide from Cornwall to Kent, Ulster to Scotland; volunteer committees raise funds to provide for children and young people who need our help.
Spoon is a national charity working very much at a local level, raising and spending funds within the regions. Here in the West Midlands, we have supported a number of projects recently, including the Young Persons Cancer Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Birmingham; Tiny Tim in Coventry, a centre helping children with Cerebral Palsy; and Homestart, a family support organisation in West Bromwich. In 2007, we built a new playground at Reynalds Cross School in Olton, Solihull. It’s a school attended by 100 pupils with a range of learning difficulties and we were delighted when our Royal patron agreed to perform the opening ceremony last September.
Spoon is about putting fun into fundraising. We are primarily volunteers ensuring virtually all the money raised benefits the children we help. Over £1.5 million raised annually stirs thousands of smiles on the faces of socially, mentally and physically disadvantaged children.
Fundraising can be challenging, enjoyable, sometimes frustrating but always rewarding. It’s our way of giving back to society to help those less fortunate than ourselves. So, I was delighted when Selly Oak RFC, the organisers of the Aaron Boyce Memorial Greater Birmingham 7s, invited Wooden Spoon to be a beneficiary of this year’s competition. Rugby is a great game, whose players and supporters are generous by their nature. I’m sure this year’s event will be equally as successful as the past two and I look forward to a wonderful sporting occassion.
Keep Stirring Smiles.
Phil Pemble
Chairman WS West Midlands
Aaron Boyce Memorial Greater Birmingham 7s 