On Saturday 07th of November, a group of us will be walking 10 miles across Preston, calling in at 10 pubs along the way. On foot, in whatever the weather does, finishing at Preston Grasshoppers, Lightfoot Lane to watch the first team play!

It’s a daft way to spend a Saturday. Here’s why we’re doing it.

Preston Grasshoppers Community Foundation is a small charity that uses rugby to do something bigger than rugby. We’re in schools across Preston and South Ribble every week running tag rugby for primary children, inclusive sessions for young people with special educational needs and disabilities, and a mentoring programme in secondary schools for pupils who need someone in their corner.

We run Rugby Reading Champions, a ten-week literacy programme delivered with the National Literacy Trust, where Year 5 and 6 pupils who’ve gone quiet about reading get hooked back in through rugby. We run Rugratz on Saturday mornings for three to five year olds, Walking Rugby for the over-50s who thought their playing days were behind them, and holiday camps that keep children active and fed through the school holidays.

And we run the Rugby Pathway Programme because the thing that stops a child joining a rugby club is almost never talent or interest. It’s a membership, a pair of boots, and a lift to training on a Sunday morning. The Pathway Programme covers all three, so a child who wants to play, plays.

Every penny raised on this walk goes into that work. Not one penny goes on the pints — we’re paying for our own.

If you can spare the price of a round, we’d be very grateful. If you can’t, please share the page instead that helps more than you’d think.

Wish us luck. And dry weather.