The Sports Tour Fundraising Dinner took place on Saturday 4 March, with tremendous success. Friends, families and members of the local community attended the event, which saw guests enjoy a three course meal and live entertainment in aid of raising money to send Shiplake’s budding athletes on the international tours of a lifetime. Over £8,400 was raised, which will go towards subsidising the cost of international tours.
The evening was organised to raise funds for the upcoming sports tours. Director of Sport Mr Duncan Traynor commented: ‘participating in sports tours as part of a team develops a pupil emotionally, socially, physically and culturally, allowing them to experience and understand diversity, and forge lifelong friendships. The money raised will be used to help pupils who would otherwise be unable to attend a tour.’ Guests at the Sports Dinner enjoyed a sumptuous three course meal and live entertainment. The draw of the evening was a panel of interviews, hosted by Old Viking and BBC sports commentator James Burridge. The panel consisted of GB hockey player and Olympic gold medallist Crista Cullen MBE, GB rower and Olympic gold medallist Alex Gregory MBE, former England fly-half and rugby pundit Andy Goode and New Zealand’s legendary number 8 Zinzan Brooke. James invited all of the sports stars up onstage, asking them questions about their careers and advice that they would give to aspiring athletes. The stories of reaching success and what it took to get there were incredibly inspiring; Crista spoke of how, at the tender age of 15, she was told by a coach that she would never play internationally. This is the spark that ignited her passion and doubled her commitment to the sport, and now she is champion in her sport. Alex Gregory, who began rowing later than a lot of his fellow rowers, experienced his fair share of failure before being selected to row for England’s renowned coxless four crew. His words of wisdom were to enjoy the sport and success would follow. Both Zinzan and Andy brought comedy to the interviews; they worked well off each other, being inspiring at the same time as relatable.
The audience then enjoyed a love auction, hosted by Old Viking and Cash in the Attic extraordinaire Jonty Hearnden. Fantastic prizes had been donated, and the guests were incredibly generous when bidding. Old Viking and musician Jamie Bruce was next to the stage, with the Jamie Bruce Band. The group delivered a set full of popular music, soul and funk, and had the audience up on their feet dancing until the small hours.
Alongside over 110 parents and staff members, the Mayor of Henley Julian Brookes was in attendance, supporting the valuable cause. Headmaster Mr Gregg Davies commented: ‘the dinner was a resounding success and I’m very grateful to all who attended and helped to make it such a fantastic evening. We were fortunate enough to be joined by stars of the sporting world, each with fascinating and compelling stories. All were an absolute credit to the sport.’