Special presentation to Jed

Ex-Riverside scrum halves Roy Laidlaw, Gary Armstrong and Greig Laidlaw were honoured recently for having worn the number nine jersey for club, country and the British/Irish Lions.

And the three were back at Riverside last weekend as Craig Anderson handed over a cheque for £1800 to Jed-Forest RFC’s youth development officer, Kevin Barrie, on behalf of Toyota (GB), A Fund for a Better Tomorrow, via Border Toyota, St Boswells.

The project is designed to help and support ‘special’ children, giving them the opportunity to participate in rugby, allowing them to develop many important skills and confidence, as well as creating a sense of belonging to the club and the community.

Craig explained that, if successful, the donation would used to buy new all-weather equipment to allow indoor and outdoor activity, as well as training tops.

The benefits of belonging to a team or group are said to be huge and ‘team uniform’ massively enhances that feeling of belonging.

There would hopefully be a contribution towards transport, as this is an inhibiting factor and a challenge for many families, and to run block sessions consisting of fundamental skills, passing, catching, kicking, running with the ball and working in small team games whereby the participants learn to help and support each other.

All the children would be active and hopefully enjoy the sessions and, at the end of the block, there will be a noticeable development of their skills and team work.