In September last year my wife Lucy and I were clearing some space in our loft and I came across a photo of the 1971 Rugby School XV. This was my last term at school and we had a fantastic season, losing just one game, 12-13 to Northampton GS (not that I am bitter or anything!)
I realised that in 2011 40 years would have elapsed since that team had taken to the field together and I decided that it would be great to get the guys in the team together again. I also wanted to use the occasion to benefit a charity and the charity that I wanted to benefit was Future Hope. Future Hope was set up by another Old Rugbeian, Tim Grandage. It operates in Calcutta and provides a home and schooling for street children. For further details see www.futurehope.net. I have known the charity since 2000 when our late daughter Katie and I were members of a party from the Dragon School in Oxford that visited Future Hope in order that the Dragon children could play various sports against the Future Hope children and deliver a donation of funds that had been raised prior to the trip. The visit had a profound effect on most of us.
When I was considering what we, the members of the 1971 XV could do to benefit Future Hope I felt that some form of physical activity would be appropriate, I recalled that every March at Rugby School a lengthy cross country run called the Crick Run had taken place. Whilst at the school I had considered myself lucky to have avoided it as I was always engaged in a hockey match on the day of the run. I Googled “Crick Run” to see how far it was. 10.6 miles was the answer. I also came across a list of every winner of the race since it first started in 1838. Tim Grandage, the founder of Future Hope, had won it in 1975 and 1976.
Clearly, somebody was trying to tell me something. The Crick Run was what we should do. Understandably, not all members of the 1971 XV are as mad as me in thinking that this was a good idea. Nevertheless two of them, James Parry and David Garforth-Bles will be joining me on the run , which takes place on Sunday 20 March, and a fourth member of the team , Owen Carlstrand, will be doing the London-Brighton bike ride in aid of Future Hope.
I have never seen running as something that needed to be done unless it was in pursuit of a ball of some kind and a 10.6 mile run for a 15 stone 12lb 57 year old represented quite a challenge. I have, however, been training since the end of October and am now significantly lighter and fitter. If you can sponsor us, for whatever sum, it would be much appreciated. Future Hope is a really inspiring organisation and your money would be well spent.
Finally, back to the reunion of the 1971 XV. Things have come together very well. Rugby School is hosting a charity dinner at the school in aid of Future Hope on 26 March. 14 out of the 16 members of the 1971 XV have bought tickets to attend (the missing two members have long standing engagements abroad) so we will, I am sure, have a great evening together and raise funds for Future Hope at the same time.
Many thanks in advance for your support.
Patrick
Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.
Donating through JustGiving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with JustGiving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity and make sure Gift Aid is reclaimed on every eligible donation by a UK taxpayer. So it’s the most efficient way to donate - I raise more, whilst saving time and cutting costs for the charity.
So please dig deep and donate now.
