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On Saturday 18th May, three people huddled around a table at the entrance of Esher Rugby Club to welcome rugby players from local clubs and social teams to the inaugral WSM Charity Rugby 7’s Tournament in aid of Rainbow Trust Childrens Charity. These three, the event organisers Ben Lee and Kayley Hackshaw from WSM, and Holly Jenkins from the Rainbow trust could not have hoped for a better day. The mild weather and lack of rain provided perfect playing conditions, and a colourful Rainbow-themed atmosphere greeted the twelve teams and supporters as they arrived at Esher Rugby Club for a day of competitive sevens and fundraising.
The tournament kicked off with a heated game between Caterham Rangers and The Palmers, The Palmers emerging victoriously. Several games followed in the pool stages from the other competitors, including WSM Wolverines, Kingston, Woking, London Lithuanians, Esher Priors, Feltham Sevens Savages, Scottish Reunited, Guildfordians, Hackney and the WSM Wanderers. The Guildfordian’s suffered a blow after one of their key players suffered a dislocated shoulder following a physical confrontation with the Caterham Rangers defence, and Scottish Reunited lost a player to a broken ankle. St John’s Ambulance were quick to attend the injured, and luckily no more serious injuries occurred.
Aside from the teams, around seventy five individuals arrived at Esher at various points in the day to support the rugby and the event itself. Zippy, George and Bungle, the Rainbow Trust mascots from the TV show, also attended much to the children’s delight, and helped do their part to help sell raffle tickets.
The cup quarter finals saw Caterham Rangers, The Palmers, Feltham Savage Sevens and Esher Priors progress to the semi finals of the Cup, and London Lithuanians put on a great show against WSM Wanderers securing their place in the plate final against the Guildforians.
Guildfordians showing their team spirit, managed to put 4 tries against the relentless Lithuanians to win the plate, final score 26 – 5.
The Palmers and Caterham Rangers found themselves up against each other once more in the cup final, Caterham Rangers taking an early lead and putting 4 tries away in the first half. The Palmers made an admirable comeback in the second half, scoring three tries themselves, but the Rangers were adamant not to be beaten, and won the cup final 34-22.
Holly Jenkins, Corporate Fundraiser from Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity said of the day: “I was absolutely delighted to attend the WSM Rugby 7s Tournament on behalf of Rainbow Trust. The whole day was in great spirit, and raised a fantastic £1,868! This amount of money can provide 90 hours of care from a Family Support Worker for a family with a sick child. Rainbow Trust relies on fundraising from companies like WSM and we are thrilled to be working together.”
For more information on getting involved next year, please like our Facebook page or follow us on Twitter.
Zippy is very happy to meet Finley! Shane and Cameron taking a quick break
in between games.
Event Organisers, Kayley and Ben, Come on Shane…
in Rainbow Bright Colours
Zippy and George make friends
Event organisers, Ben Lee and Kayley Hackshaw would like to say a big thank you to all the teams, supporters, Esher Rugby Club, St John's Ambulance, Martin from Supreme Engraving, referees, the team at Viper 10 and all the volunteers from WSM.
Amanda graduated from Brunel University, with a joint honours degree, achieving a BSC and BA degree in Leisure Management and Television and film studies. Amanda started her career in a customer service role before joining the hotel group Le Meridien as an Events coordinator, she was in the hotel industry for seven years and during her time won an award from a major international airline for her outstanding attitude and dedication to customer service, which she achieved while working for the Rezidor hotel group in the position of Airline Crew Manager. Amanda has over 20 years experience in customer relations and event management.
