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Wooden Spoon Society

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Wooden Spoon (Spoon) is a children’s charity that harnesses the support of the rugby world. Its charitable purpose is to enhance the quality and prospect of life for children and young people who are disadvantaged physically, mentally or socially. Since its formation in 1983, when the England rugby team received the ‘Wooden Spoon’ in the 5 Nations, Spoon has donated over £14m to a variety of good causes. Today Spoon operates across 43 regions in England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales and has helped over 500,000 children to date. Spoon delivers rugby projects to help children and young people combat bullying, violence, crime, obesity and discrimination. It also makes grants to special projects that meet its aims which have included hydrotherapy pools, young people’s life-skills centres and sensory rooms.

Major projects

Spoon has funded many projects over the years. Some notable recent projects include:

  • A £200,000 Wooden Spoon Disabled Sports Centre at the Percy Hedley Foundation[1].
  • A £250,000 project to enhance the Children and Baby unit at the RNOH Royal National Orthopaedic Hospital, Stanmore, Middlesex[2].

A comprehensive list of funded projects is available here

Ambassador Programme

Since its launch in April, Spoon’s Ambassador Programme has really taken off with pledges coming in from a huge variety of sources, including celebrities and business people.

Try Rugby

The 12 premiership clubs that make up Premier Rugby, have launched Try Rugby, an initiative designed to help tackle the growing issue of childhood obesity. The programme has been developed and funded through a partnership between Spoon, Premier Rugby and Sport England.

Try Rugby gives local schools a course in tag rugby that will benefit children and teachers and will enable rugby to still be played long after completing the coaching series.

SpoonAAs

Spoon has its own invitational rugby team, the SpoonAAs - formerly the Anti-Assassins [8] - who play matches and tournaments around the country and abroad in Spoon colours. In December 2006, the SpoonAAs were losing finalists [9] in the Dubai International Veterans Tens Tournament, played alongside the IRB Dubai Sevens.

Founding

Spoon was founded in 1983 when England’s Five Nations season ended in defeat by Ireland. A group of English supporters were presented with a Wooden Spoon by their Irish opponents to mark the historic occasion. On returning home the proposal to play golf for the spoon attracted the interest of fellow English supporters. Over 100 people attended that golf day at Farnham and by the end of the evening £8450 had been raised. The funds were cashed in for a minibus purchased for the Park School, a special needs school in Aylesbury.

The charity was born...

Over time the number and variety of events increased as have the number of supporters and participants. Spoon now has patronage from the four rugby home unions and royal patronage from HRH, The Princess Royal.

Notable members

Patron: Princess Anne is patron of the society.[10].

Many former and current professional rugby players and management are Wooden Spoon members. Several are Regional Honorary Presidents including:

Trustees

The Trustees are volunteers responsible under the charity's governing document for controlling the management and administration of the charity.

The Life President, Peter Scott MBE, is one of the founders. He was awarded the MBE for services to charity in 2002.[11]

Trustees are listed here and include:

Cecil Duckworth OBE, Chairman and backer of Worcester Rugby Football Club

David Allen

Fred Hucker

Management

Spoon is pleased to announce the appointment of Bill Hill as the new Chief Executive of Wooden Spoon. Bill took over from retiring CEO, Chris Gill at the end of September 2009.

Bill is the son of a lighthouse keeper and was nearly born on the boat crossing the 2 mile stretch of water from the lighthouse to the hospital on the island of Greater Cumbrae in Scotland. Bill believes that this inauspicious beginning has certainly given him an appetite for a challenge.

Bill played a lot of rugby and golf in his youth and would have made it to the top if only his talent and capability came close to matching his enthusiasm! However, since joining Spoon as a member in 1990, Bill has channelled this energy into completing the 4 Peaks Challenge three times and the London Marathon four times to raise money for the Charity. More recently he has been an active member of the Spoon Chiltern’s Committee under the expert tutelage of Dr Barrie Mair and has grown to love the even greater challenge of helping Spoon grow from the inside.

From a professional viewpoint, Bill has over 20 years experience holding senior positions in blue chip giants Hewlett-Packard and Sage PLC. Bill has a passion for customer service and has a wealth of experience across the major business disciplines of marketing, sales, operations and finance. More recently Bill has been instrumental in orchestrating business turnarounds in adverse conditions. Bill trained as an accountant and holds diplomas from INSEAD and Cranfield University as well as CIMA qualifications.

Bill commented on his appointment: “I am passionate about the work of Spoon and the significant projects we deliver to change the lives of young people. I love the tradition, the ethos and the spirit of its rugby origins and look forward to taking the helm.”

References

  1. ^ "Foundation stone laying". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  2. ^ "Children Unit RNOH". Harrow Times. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  3. ^ "Playing for Success Centre". BBC. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  4. ^ "Playing for Success Centre opens Jan07". Worcester Rugby Football Club. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  5. ^ "Playing for Success Centre". Department for Education and Skills. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  6. ^ "Playing for Success Centre Opens". Hull Kingston Rovers. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  7. ^ "Playing for Success Centre Opens". Wakefield Metropolitan District Council. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  8. ^ "N/A". Halifax Today.
  9. ^ "Dubai Rugby Tournament 2006 International Vets results" (Excel spreadsheet). Dubai Sevens. Retrieved 2007-01-29.
  10. ^ "Titles of HRH Princess Anne". Burke's Peerage. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
  11. ^ "New Year Honours 2000". BBC. December 31, 2001. Retrieved 29 January 2007.
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