I want to say a huge THANK-YOU to Rachel Cooke, the Club Shop Manager for Chesterfield Panthers RUFC. Rachel has been busy running a SOS Kit Aid Collection point at the Club, encouraging donations from club members, helped by a dedicated advert on the Club Website:

https://www.chesterfieldpanthers.com/news/sos-kit-aid-nld–world-rugby-2890753.html

Rachel, with the help of her son, has also acquired contributions from Sheffield RUFC and today 4 big bags of quality rugby kit were delivered to me in a heart-warming example of the Rugby Family co-operating and combining to help the SOS Kit Aid mission.

After Rachel collected the kit, it was arranged that Matt Rashley, Sleaford RFC’s U16s Coach, would collect it when the two clubs met recently. The kit was then delivered to me by Martin Hutchinson, the Sleaford Junior Fixtures Secretary, who just happens to be an old RAF friend of mine. I love it when a plan comes together. So, a big THANK-YOU to Sleaford RFC too.

Coincidentally, I received the ‘End of Year Report’ from John Broadfoot, CEO of SOS Kit Aid, today and he was delighted to reveal that we had exceed our target of deliveries by 20% in 2025. This fantastic achievement has only have been achieved because of donations just like this.

John also reported that, as well as large deliveries to Ukraine, we had delivered to several new countries around the globe including; Trinidad & Tobago, Mali, Zimbabwe, Laos, Uruguay, Seychelles, Costa Rica, and the Bahamas, in addition to repeat deliveries to many others. I don’t know exactly where this donation will end up but I do know it will form part of the 2026 delivery cycle and that it will help young people to play rugby.