Spoon Stalwart and BBC Rugby Commentator, Ian Robertson will be on hand to orchestrate the Auction and Martin Toal, a Tenor of growing repute, will musically entertain and lead a traditional Spoon ' Singalong' during the lunch.
 
It is hoped that former rugby personalities, some from the 1983 game, will be able to attend including Jeff Probyn, Paul Rendell, Fergus Slattery, Hugo McNeill, Mike Gibson and David Trick and Spoon supporters, Jason Leonard, Gavin Hastings, Alistair Hignall and many others.

So come and join in the fun and help Spoon celebrate its 25th Anniversary in style. To read more about the event and to book your seats, please click here

The planning of the Lunch has taken place at the Motcombs Restaurant where the founders spent many a happy lunch/dinner forming the plan of action for Wooden Spoon,  During this time they were able to set straight the origins of the multimillion pound charity. By now most Spooners should be well aware of the story of how five English supporters went to Dublin in 1983 to watch England lose 25-15 to Ireland in the then Five Nations. However, for the aforementioned English fans who attended the match that fateful day, the loss was no reason to spoil a good night out and they settled in for a fine meal with some Irish friends.

Peter Scott recalls that at the dinner the Irish "thought it was very amusing to present us with the spoon, but suddenly our taxis arrived and we hared out in a bit of a panic, fortunately Vic kept hold of the spoon.” Having managed to get both the Spoon and themselves onto the plane, they then preceded to get the players on the plane to sign it. In those amateur days most of the Irish players worked in London and played for London Irish, so it was no real surprise that the England side and most of the Irish side were on the same flight. Vic Durling explained that after collecting many notable autographs - “we realised that we had something of value here and could not really come to a decision on who would keep it. So a challenge was then set to play each other at golf to see who would keep the spoon for a year."

Farnham Golf Club was the venue for the first golf day in 1983. In preparation for the big day, “We sat in Motcombs... and decided it would be a golfing day and a rugby supper,” remembers Fred Hucker.  The morning after the event £8,450 had been raised from all sorts of antics and auctions. They donated the money for a puchase of a minibus for the Park Special Needs School in Aylesbury via the charity Sunshine Coaches, for whom Peter Scott was the Chairman at the time. Peter then became the first Chairman and Secretary of Wooden Spoon. In those early years, his experience with other charities was invaluable. “In those days, it was so different,” explains Peter. “It was really the group of us doing as much as we could, when we could. Our first golf day was so successful though and I kept on getting phone calls from other people asking me to organise other ones. We were making some good money for Spoon and more importantly some great contacts." Fred Hucker adds, " It was at the first one that I was introduced to the manager of TNT who have become a huge part of Spoon.”  - TNT later became Spoon single largest donor.

A the core of the charity was camaraderie around rugby. Fred explains further " We had Irish friends, Welsh friends, Scottish friends and French friends and that was the network that built our charity. So when we went to Cardiff, we would take the spoon. I think that is critically important that although it started with the English and the Irish, right from the beginning the others were involved too. Our first project was the coach, the second a medical camera and the third was straight down to Wales where we raised £100,000 which is an incredibly large amount of money." Steve Scott talks about the impact those first donations had on him- “I remember the ball when we presented the professor at Great Ormond Street Hospital with the camera - he came onto the dance floor and he lost control,” remembers Steve. “It was an important moment for me, as I saw first hand what an impact we were having.”

And what an impact! In 1986, there were only three regions - London, South Wales and one just beginning in the Midlands. In 2008 there are 43 Committees covering England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. Wooden Spoon attracts many characters and it is not surprising to see why. The character of Spoon comes from those men who developed it. Their boldness and belief has created something more than just a charity. It has created a family; a family doing it’s best to look after each other, to enjoy life and to make the most of opportunities - for ourselves and for disadvantaged children everywhere.