Wooden Spoon can look back with huge pride on the success of the charity that was born from the lack of success on the rugby field. Over the last 25 years Spoon has distributed over £13.5million across 276 capital projects to help improve the lives of mentally, physically and socially disadvantaged children and young people in the UK and Ireland; not such a bad result after all.

It has been a great journey for all those who have had the pleasure of being involved with the Charity, from the founders and staff, honorary presidents, corporate supporters, fundraisers, members, friends and of course the volunteers, without whom the charity would not have grown so fast and so successfully.

The growth stemmed from the desire to help improve the lives of disadvantaged children. Like-minded individuals found they were happy to get together to show that good sportsmanship could be extended to help others. It almost seemed in those early years as if the more fun people had raising money, the more funds were raised and the more projects Spoon was able to support. It is an ethos that Spoon has carried through to the present day.

Spoon is going to celebrate its quarter century milestone over a period of two years. The first year from March 2008 to March 2009 will be know as the ‘Founders’ Year’ and will be celebrating the formation of the Charity and the past 25 years. From March 2009 to March 2010 Spoon will be celebrating its future - the next 25 years and laying foundations for the next phase in the Charity’s history.

Many rugby teams have represented Wooden Spoon over the last 25 years from local pub teams, former international celebrity teams to the mighty Fijian sevens team. And all have done a great job wearing the colours with pride and winning in style. Spoon now has six teams that represent the charity, playing tournaments in the UK and around the world to promote Spoon’s work and raise funds. It is one of these teams that is going to kick off the 25th Anniversary as well as round off the first year’s celebrations.

The Wooden Spoon England Legends will take on an Irish Legends team at Richmond Rugby Club on March 15th at 10.30am. Both teams will comprise many capped players who have since retired from international rugby but have not lost any of the skill and enthusiasm for the game. Although not too many people from the 1983 game are planning on putting on their boots and playing, they are certainly expecting to be on the touch line cheering on their younger representatives. It is fitting that the charity formed from ‘disaster’ on the pitch should use the game to launch the 25th Anniversary celebrations.

In March 2009 there will be a return fixture taking Spoon back to its origins in Dublin. The Founders, members and supporters of Spoon will meet once more before the game to recount the stories of old, be reacquainted with fellow rugby fans of both countries and maybe sip a glass or two of the famous black stuff and toast the success of Spoon.

But there won’t be any sitting back just toasting its success. The Charity has made great strides in 25 years and in particular over the last seven, substantially increasing the funds raised and the projects funded and further growth is what the Charity will be striving for, using the celebrations wisely to promote its work, gain more interest in its activities and more support for the children it ultimately wants to help.

Spoon’s Royal Patron, HRH Princess Royal is lending her support to the celebrations by attending many project openings over the course of the year including Spoon’s latest funded project in Dublin, Respect. Appropriately the £50,000 contribution to Respect to build new accommodation for physically disadvantaged children brought up the £10 million expenditure for Spoon. HRH coincided her visit with Scotland’s fixture against Ireland in the 2008 Six Nations.

In 2008 alone, Spoon has over 200 events being hosted either by the 43 volunteer Regional Committees, Spoon or by third parties who have kindly chosen Spoon as the benefiting charity. Amongst this incredible number of fundraising events are a few of the old favourites and several new ones.

The infamous Spoon Ball held every November at the Park Lane Hilton will be the last one to be organised by Spoon’s Life Honorary President, Peter Scott. For the last 20 years Peter has tirelessly guided his team of volunteers, creating glamorous spectacles that have raised substantial amounts for Spoon. Peter will preside over his final Ball, fittingly titled the ‘President’s Ball’ before bowing out and handing over the reigns to a new breed of event organisers.

There is a natural theme for the two years of celebrations - 25. Spoon’s target is to raise £2.5million over the two year period, to create 25 new projects per year, to fund and complete 25 projects, to change the lives of another 250,000 children, to host over 250 fundraising events, increase membership to 25,000 and bring on board 25 new sponsors. During 2008 we will also be announcing several new initiatives and this will be done on the 25th of every month through an Emagazine. Please ensure you register your email address on the Spoon website so you don’t miss out.

Reaching ‘25’ goals It will not be easy but there is nothing stronger than the heart of a volunteer and Spoon has some of the best working to take this charity to a new level and support more children who need a helping hand in life.

25th Anniversary Events: