Young duo behind Rugby Recycled are raising vital funds for Wooden Spoon Scotland
The mission of the Rugby Recycled team is simple: breathe new life into pre-loved rugby balls otherwise destined for landfill, create durable, fun pencil cases and then donate the profits to charity.
Wooden Spoon Scotland are delighted that the Rugby Recycled team – the Graves brothers – have decided to donate all of the money they make from this project to the charity.
So, how did Rugby Recycled come to life?
The story begins in the medieval French market town of Dinan with twin brothers William and Thomas Graves, their dad Adrian and mum, Lynn.
The boys, who are now 11 and play rugby for the Stew Mel Lions, explained: “Whilst on holiday with our mum and dad in the summer of 2019, we were looking for something to spend our holiday money on.
“One evening we came across a market stall selling recycled things, including wallets and pencil cases made from old rugby balls. We both love rugby and bought these immediately.
“Fast forward to the 2019/20 rugby season and our P6 squad at the Stew Mel Lions were training hard, having fun and also raising money for Wooden Spoon Scotland through bag packs, car washes and bucket collections.
“And then Covid happened and we spent the rest of the season creating ‘train at home’ videos and playing Fortnite.”
When pre-season 2020 came around the boys could not wait to get back to playing rugby again with their friends.
“As we got ready for the new season we were helping our dad clean and disinfect balls and throw out the ones that couldn’t be used,” the youngsters continued.
“That’s when we had an idea… could we make pencil cases out of the old balls that would otherwise be thrown away and could we use the profits from selling them to support a charity that will have found it hard over lockdown?
“The answer was yes, and we’ve cleaned the rugby balls, unpicked them and with a little bit of help from our mum and dad (mainly mum!) we’ve turned them into pencil cases.
“We hope you like them and we hope you’ll support us in raising money for a great cause.”
The boys’ dad Adrian said: “The boys deserve all the credit for getting this project up and running, and we have been amazed by the fact that people from across the UK and further afield have been in touch to donate old rugby balls and also purchase the pencil cases.
“As a family we are aware of the great work that Wooden Spoon Scotland does to help disadvantaged and disabled young people and we were very keen to help in these tough times for all charities.”
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