| 1 October 2007, 2:05 pm |
| Leicestershire Spoon "Drives" the Kids Crazy with a New Minibus for a Special School! |
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| On 16 September, the Leicestershire region of Spoon made an official donation of a minibus to the Parks Special School in Oakham. Matt Hampson, who hails from Oakham, did the honours in presenting the generous gift (click photo for more). |
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 Matt Hampson, the young Tigers prop forward and England U-21 player, had a neck injury in training. He is currently paralysed from the neck down and is still unable to breathe unaided. Despite the nature of those injuries Matt continues to be courageous in the face of adversity. He is constantly supporting local community fundraising events and he was delighted to support the Wooden Spoon. The committee wanted to get involved in a project in the Oakham region because it was a new area and Peter Wheeler, the Tigers chief executive and President of the Leicestershire Spoon, who lives in Oakham, was keen to support the initiative in the community. Approaches were made to Oakham RUFC to get involved and from that connection we were approached by Parks Special School. Members of the Leicestershire committee, headed by chairman Tony Airey, visited the school in the spring of 2006 and responded favourably to their need for a minibus. The Leicestershire Spoon saw this as an opportunity to raise funds for the first time for a minibus.
 The Parks is a Community Special School for young children aged 2 to 6 years. The school has currently 26 children with a wide spectrum of special needs. Out of school activities and visits into the wider community are particularly valuable as they provide a wonderful stimulus for language and communication, self-confidence and independence skills. The school works with the Rutland Rotaract Family Support Centre which is a new part of the Parks and supports the families of children and young people with SEN in Rutland and surrounding areas. It offers a range of training, support and leisure activities for families to get together. However, many families do not own a car and the limited public transport in a rural area often means they are unable to access these services. Sadly it is often those in most need of support that are deterred from making that extra effort to travel into Oakham. So Wooden Spoon took up the challenge to raise £13000 towards a much-needed minibus and held various events. The “Dance For Victory” and the “Roaring 20’s” Dinners held at Kilworth House were hugely successful and the Annual Golf day at Lutterworth and the Stoneygate Golf Day also had many participants.
Various dignitaries met at Oakham Rugby Club for the handover with officers of Leicetershire Spoon and former Tigers players who had just come off the field from the Droglites v Oakham match at the final whistle to join in the handover of the minibus. The Headteacher of the Parks School, Pia Kerridge ,was absolutely delighted with the donation and said " A minibus of our own will open up a world of exciting opportunities and possibilities that our children would not only enjoy but would learn and develop from….the support that the Spoon has given makes this a reality for our children and the families appreciate their support."
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| Author: Suzanne Doyle-Morris |
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