| Top News |
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In Touch project delivers more good news |
| 11 Mar 10 |
| The success stories relating to the In Touch Project in Worcester just keep on coming. One of the recent graduates, Matthew Bell has been offered a place at University. |
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Spoon Community Rugby is the umbrella term for a series of charitable projects designed to deliver support to socially disadvantaged children around the UK using Rugby as the catalyst to give children and young people a better chance in life. Spoon has identified particular issues amongst young people that rugby is uniquely able to address. The Charity has harnessed the support of the rugby community to help deliver these programmes.
Click here to view the full summary of Spoon Community Rugby Projects
Spoon Community Rugby projects are all about evolution not a revolution. They work directly with kids, mostly from very difficult backgrounds who can, with a bit of help, raise themselves out of the life that they were born into.
Rugby training is not just about technical skills. Its about respect, teamwork, discipline and having something positive to do in your spare time. These skills and disciplines can be extremely valuable to young people who are born into a difficult environment or who have gone off the rails.
Spoon aims to provide a better prospect of life for young people who are in danger of a life of crime and threatening behaviour, and through an improvement in their values and behaviour, to improve the lives of the communities in which they live. By encouraging the adoption of rugby’s values, these difficult young people may be encouraged to swap gang culture for rugby club culture and a lifelong change in attitude and behaviour.
Other projects are targetting younger children trying to encourage them into a healthy lifestyle. Some are focused on older kids who have been excluded from school, trying to encourage them back into education. Some are with kids in the criminal justice system trying to show them a new way of life.
To date Spoon has predominantly funded capital projects through the Regions mostly for kids with physical and mental disabilities. These will continue, as they should, they do great work and support disadvantaged kids all over the country but in the present climate it is necessary to source funding from other areas to ensure that Spoon can sustain its support of disadvantaged children. Ownership of projects and promotion will in turn bring in corporate sponsors that will support Spoon in a variety of different ways.
The projects are (or will be) run for Spoon by the RFU, WRU, SRU, Premiership and Magners League Clubs. However, Spoon is also commissioning these partners to run Spoon projects rather than Spoon funding theirs. This gives Spoon ownership and more control over elements such as branding and publicity. As well as creating stronger bonds within rugby amongst the players and coaching teams and giving Spoon the capacity to ask for greater fundraising support regionally and centrally.
It is extremely motivating to see these youngsters turn into some pretty fine young people. Through these Spoon Community Rugby programmes, their lives can be turned around and that is a fantastic opportunity for all youngsters and for society at large. |
| Other News |
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Police and Parents back local rugby project |
| 09 Mar 10 |
| Police have backed a Wooden Spoon project aimed at offering rugby coaching to children and young people living on the Regent's Park Estate in North West London. The project is designed to deliver support using rugby as the catalyst to givelocal youngsters a better chance in life. |
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FairPlay Receives Great Press Coverage |
| 05 Mar 10 |
| The Launch of the FairPlay project in Hackney London resulted in some excellent coverage through the national press. |
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'AT RISK' YOUNGSTERS ARE TACKLING THEIR FUTURE |
| 04 Mar 10 |
| Young people from PRUs in the London area gathered at Hackney Community College on Wednesday 3rd March to celebrate the launch of the FariPlay rugby project designed to assist young people excluded from mainstream education. |
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Barclays got the best of it... |
| 23 Feb 10 |
| Wooden Spoon entertained the Barclays Spaces for Sports team at the England v Wales RBS Six Nations match at Twickenham. |
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In Touch Graduation at Sixways |
| 05 Feb 10 |
| There was cause for celebration for Wooden Spoon at Worcester Warriors’ Sixways stadium earlier this week as the second cohort of young people graduated from the In Touch Spoon Community Rugby project. |
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At Risk Youngsters Given Chance to Tackle their Future |
| 20 Jan 10 |
| FairPlay launches as a new Spoon Community Rugby Initiative to help disadvantaged youth. |
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Spoon's Community Rugby Projects Endorsed by Leading Academic |
| 15 Jan 10 |
| Dr Hugh Hunt, from the University of Cambridge, explains the advantages rugby can give disadvantaged kids everywhere. |
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