Lands End to John O'Groats (or vice versa!)

The Background

That man Rick Kibby is irrepressible. Every so often he has an idea that is breathtaking in its depth, range or vision. About 12 years ago now he organised an 'Auction of Promises' and raised a substantial amount of money for the Club, which enabled it to participate in the development of the new Sports Club facilities. Since then Rick has been involved in some way with almost every project connected with fund-raising or social activity within the Club, including the Rugby World Cup visit to the Club and the Rollin' Clones gig last season and the Conmitments gig last Autumn.

At the same time, as well as using grant aid and sponsorship to develop a new pitch and improve its old pitch, the Club has tried to raise money for a specific charity each season. This year, under the guidance of Charlie Rudler, it has been for Canon's House. The donation should be presented at the President's Cheese & Wine event this Sunday, 28 January, 2007.

Following the success of the Conmitments gig in the Autumn of 2006, during one of his spare moments, Rick hit upon the idea of a walk from one end of the country to the other, passing a rugby ball, in order to raise funds for a charity (such as the Devizes Opportunity Group) and for the Club. One of the attractions of his idea is that you would not have to commit to doing the whole walk but could just dip in and out, joining in for a day or a weekend here, a week or a month there, provided you raise the relevant amount of sponsorship. Rick spoke to Club members and various other people about the idea; and, from their positive responses, he became sure that it would be a viable proposition.

Realising that it would have to be organised on a national level, however, Rick appreciated that the Club would also need to involve a national charity. The obvious choice was the rugby charity for disadvantaged children and young people, Wooden Spoon www.woodenspoon.com and who are already connected with the Club through David Duckham and David Trick, who have spoken at our black tie dinners in past years, and through their annual golf days. After some initial approachs and a tentative discussion, Rick and the Club Secretary went to see their Deputy Chief Executive, Tony Richards, and representatives from Events Unlimited earlier today for an 'in principle' meeting.

Wooden Spoon like the idea so much that they want to go with it and make it their main fund-raising event in 2008, which is their 25th anniversary! Moreover they are prepared to handle many aspects of the organisation of the event that would otherwise have been beyand the realistic capabilities of the Club, such as: charitable 'gift' arrangements; insurance; health & safety; printing, promotion and PR; risk assessment; sponsorship forms; and so on. They are going to take the idea away and come back with a costed budget for the purposes of a formal proposal.

So the idea is that, from here on, we will post occasional entries and jottings recording the progress of the project, right up to and then on through the walk. We hope you will watch this space - and even want to add your own postings!