Rugby players in Musselburgh have been delighted to see their fanbase reach new heights.
For they have ensured the game is being enjoyed by children in the Kilimanjaro region of Tanzania by donating Musselburgh Rugby Club (MRFC) kit and rugby balls.
Mweka Primary School, as well as Mwereni Primary School, for children who are blind and have albinism, provide support to youngsters in the region.
A club spokesperson said via social media: “We know how much rugby means to the kids here at MRFC so it was our pleasure to be able to provide some MRFC kit and rugby balls to the kids at Mweka.”
Paul Urquhart, the club’s P7 coach and managing director of Paragon Products, a cleaning products supplier based at Newhailes Industrial Estate in Musselburgh, heard about the schools through Kinga Bogdanowicz, who works for a rail customer.
She travelled to Tanzania with her husband, Radek, for a seven-day climb of Mount Kilimanjaro – the highest mountain in Africa and also the highest freestanding mountain in the world.
Paul said: “She reached out to me a few weeks back asking about donations and sponsorship for the trip her and her husband Radek were taking to Kilimanjaro and the visit to Mweka Primary School.
“I thought it would be a great opportunity for the rugby club to support with some sports equipment so arranged for strips and balls to be sent to Kinga so she could pass these over on her visit.”
The couple then set up a GoFundMe page to raise funds for the school for items such as sportswear, footballs and other games, pens, pencils and pencil sharpeners, rulers, erasers, solar calculators, chalk, English storybooks and books with maps, including atlases.
They donated a printer, which they obtained while away – to replace a broken printer at the school – which will help teachers in their work, as well as footballs and soundballs with carpets for blind children.
Local businesses are also welcome to sponsor mini rugby at the Musselburgh club, whether supporting the P6 and P7 tour to Dalguise Outdoor Centre at Dunkeld in May, the end-of-season mini rugby festival in April or the fundraising race night in March.
The club has been described as “a key part of our local East Lothian community”, with the youth teams helping to forge “community spirit, teamwork, commitment and respect from a young age”.
To find out more about supporting the club, contact Jon Heggie by emailing jonathanheggie@hotmail.com or calling/ messaging 07557 124640.
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