Special guests do the honours at historic Fylde rugby camp

Sir Bill Beaumont (left) and son Josh made presentations at the Fylde Rugby Community Foundation camp

Sir Bill Beaumont back to lead team focused on future at Fylde

Some 65 young people got involved, with two VIP guests adding to the fun.

Boys and girls aged to 11 attended the three-day half-term camp at Fylde RFC’s Woodlands Ground.

Sir Bill Beaumont and son Josh, the England and Sale Sharks forward, kindly dropped in at the end of the camp to make presentations to all the participants.

There were awards for the most improved player, the scorer of the best try and for the Camp Super Star, who contributed most to the event. Everyone received a medal as a memento.

Fylde RFC’s most famous son Sir Bill, the former England and Lions captain now chairman of World Rugby, and Josh are both playing key roles in helping the club to make the best plans for the future in these most challenging times.

The event was staged under the ‘Rugby for All’ banner and the club’s head of community rugby Phill Mills said: “We are delighted at how the camp has gone. The weather was challenging but the facilities at the Woodlands are top-notch, so everyone attending had great fun, exercise and top rugby coaching.

“The impact of Covid-19 on youngsters wanting to play rugby has been tough.

“Many just want to get back to playing sport generally and we were delighted at how many children were playing rugby for the first time.

“The greatest priority in the running of the camp has been the safety of all the youngsters who attended.

“We have adopted the Rugby Football Union’s Covid-19 guidelines and implemented these strictly. When inside the clubhouse we maintained ‘team bubbles’; when running activities outside we organised the youngsters into age groups, with no mixing with other groups.

“The coaching has been excellent as we drafted in England Under-21 women’s squad member Laura Perrin and some Fylde first XV players.

The camp was subsidised by businessmen Tom Gallagher (Home Farm Lytham Limited) and Mark Merrick, with some kit supplied by Anthony Hoskinsson (Questa) to make the event accessible to more children.

Mills added: “We hope to run a Christmas Shopping Day Camp, providing fun and activity for young people while allowing their parents to go shopping, subject to any Covid-19 restrictions operative at that time.”

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