EAST Lothian native and Scottish rugby legend Allan Jacobsen has opened a new training centre as a Scottish rugby charity teams up with Tranent-based group STRiVE.

Wooden Spoon Scotland is a charity that uses rugby to level the playing field for children and young people, and it has partnered up with Tranent’s STRiVE, on High Street, which creates a single point of access for the local community to explore many benefits and opportunities from various charities.

The Wooden Spoon investment in new facilities in STRiVE has resulted in the creation of the Wooden Spoon Lifeskills and Training Centre, which was was opened by 40-year-old rugby great Jacobsen, who played in two Rugby World Cups and won 65 caps for his country.

The former prop, more affectionately nicknamed ‘Chunk’, met the staff and young people who use the service.

He said: “I think it’s great to see the work that Wooden Spoon Scotland and STRiVE do to help young people, as everyone deserves opportunities in life.

“As a proud man from East Lothian, I am very passionate that youngsters from the area should be given chances to flourish and places like STRiVE can really help them do that – there are exciting times ahead.”

Elliot Stark, the chief executive of STRiVE, added: “The funding from Wooden Spoon Scotland to help with the facilities will really help us to offer more and more people from Tranent and the rest of the county a quality service.”