Rugby club smashes fundraising target for local pre-school with 100km coast hike

A touch rugby club completed an arduous hike along the Jurassic Coast, to raise funds for a local pre-school.

Broughton Touch Rugby Club members set themselves a challenge of securing £3000 in sponsorship by completing the mammoth 10km hike along in 48 hours, to provide vital funding to Broughton Pre-School, which continually relies on contributions and donations to help make the shortfall between the amount received for three & four-year-olds under Universal & Extended Funding from Government, and the pre-school’s running costs.

However, owing to the generous contribution of local businesses and individuals, along with the club’s tenacity in completing their hike, the total sum raised was over £15,000, enough to support the pre-school for the next 3 years.

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The funds raised by the club will go towards the upkeep of the pre-school, rated as ‘excellent’ by Ofsted, as well as general maintenance costs and key learning and developmental resources for children aged between two and five years.

Organiser of the fund-raising effort, Izzy Birrell, said: “We’re hugely grateful to all those who have supported us in our fund-raising so far.

Members of Broughton Touch Rugby Club (Image: Broughton Touch Rugby Club)

"The generosity of local firms and individuals will help secure educational needs across the villages of Broughton, Houghton, the Tytherleys and the wider area.”

“As a rural community, we have limited access to other pre-school services, so are highly dependent on what we have within our villages.

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"Securing enough funding to maintain the existence of our local preschool means that we can support educational needs within Broughton, ensuring we can cut down on additional car travel for parents and reduce potential over-crowding in other local educational services.”

“I would like to especially thank our support crew for their help during the challenge, without which we couldn’t have completed the event.”

A key local sponsor of the challenge was Broughton business, and international bottled mineral water firm, Hildon.

Principal, Ashley Ramamoorthy, said: “As a local business and employer, we recognise the challenges faced by local services in continuing to operate and are highly invested in ensuring that we are there to support local community needs.

"We would like to congratulate Broughton Touch Rugby Club on its completion of the challenge and are thrilled that the sum raised will support the pre-school in the longer term.”

Fundraising will officially close on July 12 but until then any individuals wishing to contribute donations are able to at justgiving.com/crowdfunding/jurassiccoast