Rugby Academy participants celebrate the £100,000 Lottery funding win. Pic: ASM Media & PR
The future of an Angus charity’s project which helps young people improve their confidence, health and community links as well as gain life, career and rugby skills has been secured for the next three years by a grant of almost £100,000 from The National Lottery Community Fund.
Strathmore Community Rugby Trust has been awarded £99,981 over the next three years by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Young Start fund to finance its Rugby Academy programme of rugby and life skills for Angus senior school pupils. This is one of the largest packages of funding the award-winning charity has won in its eight-year history.
Previous award
The trust previously received £90,000 from the Young Start fund between 2021 and 2024 for its ‘Rugby and Beyond’ programme for engaging local young people in positive activities. As it and the longstanding Rugby Academy project the Forfar-based charity launched in August 2017 overlap on their aims, the trust has merged them under the ‘Rugby Academy’ banner and extended the top end of its age remit to 24 in response to demand and support from several funders expanding to that age.
Rugby Academy also receives funding from the Gannochy Trust and long-term sponsor Stracathro Estates.
The project was awarded new funding by The National Lottery Community Fund’s Young Start fund because it meets the three Young Start target outcomes for children and young people: 1) Improving physical, mental and emotional wellbeing; 2) Strengthening connections with the wider community as well as 3) Providing access to new skills and training opportunities which support pathways into employment or business, with young people actively involved in the project at every stage of its development and delivery.
Life, work & rugby skills
It does this in the termtime Friday afternoon sessions for young people from Forfar Academy, Brechin High School and Websters High School, Kirriemuir, by teaching them life skills as well as rugby ones at Strathmore Rugby Club (March to October) and at a local artificial pitch (November to February) in Forfar, Brechin or Kirriemuir.
On the pitch, the project engages youths through the team element of rugby – developing them both as players and people. It also aims to give them the skills and confidence to have a lifelong involvement in rugby through playing, coaching, officiating and volunteering by giving them personal development sessions alongside rugby training.
Rugby Academy also inspires possible career options by offering its participants an opportunity to gain coaching qualifications and experience in different roles as well as having talks from professionals who support the infrastructure of sport – including a nutritionist, accountant, chef and graphic designer. The project also offers paid sessional coaching jobs to some of the Rugby Academy members who excel as volunteers.
Value shown since 2017
The trust’s experience of providing this since 2017 has shown the value of engaging young people early and providing them with positive role models and peer mentors from when they begin their secondary school journey.
Mia White, who’s gone from a Rugby Academy participant in 2017 to volunteer Community Project Assistant and now full-time paid Community Project Worker at the trust, said: “Rugby Academy helped me develop a lot of my confidence and my social skills as well as my rugby skills. All of the things we’ve done have helped me become the person I am today.
“Rugby Academy also helped me get the job I’m in now, so if it wasn’t for Rugby Academy I wouldn’t be here.”
Anyone wanting to find out more or take part, should contact the trust by email on info@strathmoretrust.co.uk They can find out more on the trust’s website here.
Community Trust Manager, Maggie Lawrie, said: “We’re absolutely thrilled to have received this funding from the National Lottery Community Fund through the Young Start programme. This programme supports projects which help children and young people across Scotland become more confident and play an active part in realising their potential.
“The Rugby Academy project is very much at the heart of the trust’s activities as it perfectly embodies our aim of ‘Developing People Through Rugby.’ This funding secures the project’s future for three years, placing the trust in a strong position to continue supporting our community.”
‘Vital role’
The National Lottery Community Fund, Scotland Chair, Kate Still, said: “Since its launch in 2012, Young Start has awarded more than £73.5 million to 1,254 incredible projects led by and for young people aged 8 to 24.
“Organisations such as Strathmore Community Rugby Trust play a vital role in helping young people gain new skills, build confidence and support their wellbeing. We’re delighted Young Start funding will enable them to grow and continue their important work.”
Young Start awards money from dormant bank and building society accounts that have seen no customer-initiated activity for at least 15 years. It’s run by The National Lottery Community Fund Scotland for The Scottish Government.
The trust was founded in 2017 to increase public participation in sport, particularly rugby union and rugby league, in the Forfar, Kirriemuir and Brechin areas to benefit community health and wellbeing as well as develop young people into healthy, positive members of the community through the positive ethos and values of rugby.
It works in partnership with Strathmore RFC, Brechin RFC, Scottish Rugby, Strathmore Cricket Club, Angus Council and Angus Alive and had its activities recognised at the Scottish Charity Awards with the Pioneering Project Award in 2020 for its ASD rugby for primary children project. The trust’s Royal Patron is HRH The Duke of Edinburgh and Earl of Forfar.
To find out how to get involved or help the trust, go www.strathmoretrust.co.uk