December the 6th was our Project Rugby festival, run in partnership with the Met Police. The event saw 140 boys and girls from across the Harlequins Heartlands come together to play touch rugby. Pupils took part in workshops centred around our programmes, that promote mental resilience, team work, and aiming high; and programmes supported by the Met Police, “Hard Calls Save Lives” and Fearless.org. Several VIPs were in attendance, including the Mayor of Richmond, Geoff Acton; local MPs, Sarah Olney and Munira Wilson; Richmond Superintendent, Jon McLoughlin; and even the Met Police’s own Dexter the wellbeing dog.
It was a great opportunity for us to support young people to get engaged with sport, as well as learning about the work the Met Police do in a fun, interactive environment. The festival was part of our work in delivering Project Rugby, a Premiership Rugby funded programme: providing young people with meaningful opportunities to engage in sport and connecting them to their local grassroots rugby club.