The camps were announced last week as Borders rugby development officers travelled to Murrayfield to celebrate Scottish rugby's announcement that it had reached a half-century of grassroots development with the recruitment of the 56th jointly-funded development officer.

Development officers are dedicated to recruiting and retaining rugby players, coaches, referees and volunteers in and around their local communities, working continuously to create links between schools and clubs to maximise the opportunities to play rugby in their area.

The local camps will be held at Gala RFC and Eskdale Leisure Centre and are part of the SRU strategic target of 38,000 players by 2012.

Head of community rugby Colin Thomson said: "Scottish Rugby has worked hard over the last two years in partnership with clubs and local authorities to establish a team of development officers to provide rugby opportunities for all in communities throughout Scotland. It is good to see that clubs and local authorities are now in a position to offer such an extensive rugby summer camp programme as part of these efforts to grow the game."

Details of the camps are as follows: Gala summer camp at Gala RFC, Netherdale Road, Galashiels, on Wednesday, August 6, 10am-3pm for P3-S3. Contact Ian Miller on 07732 799083 or email ydo@galarfc.com

Excel Project's summer of sports at Eskdale Leisure Centre, Thomas Telford Road, Langholm, from August 11-14, morning: 10am-noon and afternoon: 1pm-3pm for P1-Under-18. The sessions will consist of skills, handling, drills and more in the morning and this, in turn, will lead to all types of rugby games in the afternoon.

For more information or to book a place contact Niall Cubbon at: niallcubbon@ hotmail.com or 07890967907.