It was a big game for Harlequins on Saturday who took on Wasps in one of the season’s London derbies. We were there in numbers as our partner Quins gave us a fund raising opportunity and a chance to showcase the sport on a specially laid surface on the pitch. It was a great day – Quins won a tight match and lots of young people and excited adults got in chairs and had fun. Thank you to the GB athletes who took part: Ships, Kylie, Alan, Mandip, Johnny, Jim and Ayaz as well as Kirsty, Lee and the volunteers who helped on the day. Our Chairman Kevin, a keen Quins supporter was also there, as was Trustee Andrew Flatt, an equally keen Wasps fan who looked slightly incongruous in his Wasps baseball cap!
Thanks also to our ambassador, Harlequins and England star Mike Brown who joined us after the match to support the ‘have a go’ sessions. Over the coming months we will be working with Leanne Dingle, who heads up the Harlequins Foundation to deliver some community programmes together. Quins are also supporting us with our plans for WWRC15. As part of the day we gave the first public showing of our new video which has been uploaded onto the website for you to take a look at. We commissioned this to use when we introduce the sport to new partners. Thank you to West Country Hawks who took part in the filming and please do feel free to download it and use it when you want to engage with potential partners and sponsors.
Last week all Members should have received formal notification of the AGM which will take place on 8 October in Leicester. This is your opportunity to question the executive team and the Board on the year’s activities so please do try to get there and take part. The proposed Membership and Club Affiliation model has been tabled as a resolution and is on the website for you to take a look at. The DMG has been involved as this model has developed so we aim to finalise it at the AGM. The annual report which tells you about what we have delivered over the last year and what we aim to deliver over the next is also on the website for you to download. This week you will also be invited to complete an equality survey which Daniel will send out. This seeks to assure us that our policies and practices pay appropriate attention to all of those who are part of our sport. At the heart of our organisation are our core values which include ‘Respect’ and ‘Inclusiveness’ and so it is right that we properly understand the make up and views of our Membership to ensure that we are creating an environment where everyone feels comfortable, supported and able to enjoy their involvement in the game.
I am really pleased to be able to announce here that our bid for Sport England funding to support a community programme around WWRC15 has been awarded. We have been working on this for some months and so are delighted that we now have some additional funding to be able to run a number of programmes mostly in the London area – thank you Sport England. We are also hoping to be able to work with the London Mayor’s office to deliver some exciting programmes around London and in doing so we aim to find sufficient new players and volunteers for at least one new London based club. Part of the Sport England funding is to allow us to recruit someone to head up this important and exciting programme and this role is detailed on the website. Although mostly London focused there will also be some activity designed to deliver our sport around the Rugby World Cup Fan Zones across the country. We will be working in partnership with the RFU on this part of the programme.
Weekends have been a bit busy lately but all with fantastic activities – Invictus two weekends ago, Harlequins last weekend and this coming weekend I will be in Swansea for the 25th anniversary celebrations of the Pirates. I am really looking forward to this which will be alongside a tournament delivered in partnership with the Swansea charity, ‘The Treat Trust’ and involving teams from England, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. The Pirates are a club with a proud history and can rightly claim to have been a key driving force for the development of the game in GB and Europe. Over the years they have provided 12 players to the GB team, the most recent being Dave Anthony, and at least two GB Captains in Mike Spence and Keith Jones, both still very much at the forefront of the game today. More on Pirates in next week’s blog but congratulations on their silver jubilee and let’s have a great celebration next weekend!
David Pond
