Beach Rugby Supports Jersey Charities

Monday 27 July 2015

As part of the Beach Rugby Festival at St Brelade’s Bay last Saturday, three charities from Jersey have come in for a windfall.

BeachAbility, Holidays for Heroes and the Jersey Women’s Refuge will each receive more than £600 from the generosity of those who attended and supporters Aurum Jewellers Jersey, Jackson's Garage and the Channel Island Travel Group.

Representatives from the charities were kept busy raking pitches, selling raffle tickets and shaking buckets and were delighted at how generous the spectators were. £1366 was raised overall and the Beach Rugby organising committee kindly chipped in an additional amount so that each charity received more than £600.

Joanna Hepworth, Fundraiser at Jersey Women's Refuge said, "We are delighted to be a part of the Beach Rugby Tournament again. It's a fun family day out and it's fantastic to be one of three charities supported by the event. We receive over 1000 calls for help each year from women suffering from domestic abuse and the money raised will help us to continue to support women and children in Jersey, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week."

Chairman of Holidays for Heroes Jersey, Dawn Woodhouse M.B.E., confirmed how thrilled they were to once again benefit from the Beach Rugby Tournament.

She said: “We are honoured and grateful to have been involved since the tournament's inception and this kind of support is crucial as we will be providing almost 350 holidays this year. Our guests are past and present members of H M Armed Forces injured during service, together with their partners, carers and young children.  We would like to thanks to all the hard working people who have organised the event and the partaking teams.”

Margaret Le Herissier, Chairperson of BeachAbility said they were delighted to return to Beach Rugby again and had two of their special beach wheelchairs, with their large balloon shaped wheels that ride easily over sand, available for use.

Local charity BeachAbility now has nine chairs which are located across the Island at six of Jersey’s most beautiful beaches. Loan of these chairs is free although donations are welcome and fundraising from events like Beach Rugby are important to help meet operating expenses.