Penarth Under-14s gain sponsorship (From Penarth Times)

Penarth Under-14s gain sponsorship

IT WAS quite a busy week for Penarth RFC, not only were they hosting their training facilities to the Romanian National Squad, they welcomed some very important visitors to the club on Monday night.

The Under 14 squad have secured a sponsorship partnership with the financial firm Wesleyan Insurance.

Local representative David Howe and Area Manager Rachel Jones were delighted to be on hand when the brand new kit of jerseys, shorts and socks were modelled by the team. Sporting in gold embroidery the Wesleyan logo, the boys had certainly never looked so smart.

Mr Howe gave a short presentation about Wesleyan Insurance and the benefits this mutual financial company can offer to its members.

Mrs Jones told the boys' parents how delighted they were to be involved in local grass-roots sport in the community and how they looked forward to keeping in touch with the team.

Ray Paton, Club Chairman, thanked Wesleyan Insurance for their generosity and promised to give them regular reports of the team's progress throughout the season.

This kind of sponsorship is of great benefit to local sports clubs as it frees up precious finance for the purchase of vital equipment such as balls, tackle pads, post protectors etc.

Penarth Mini/Junior runs squads from under 8 to under 16. Playing kit for each team runs to some £600 and while great care is taken to buy good quality kit, by the very nature of the game, it does not last forever.

The club is hopeful of earning a Sportsmatch Grant from the Sports Council for Wales, the proceeds of which will go towards the purchase of a scrum/ruck machine to be used for training the older boys of under-14 and up.

The team and parents gave resounding applause to Rachel and David, who also produced for the boys some goodie bags containing electronic diaries (to keep track of their fixtures and scores) and presented to the parents a large umbrella each.

If the rugby season weather is as poor as last year, they will certainly come in handy.

The Romanian team presented the boys with tie-pins from the Romanian Rugby Union. The evening concluded with a buffet generously provided by Andrew Jones (under 14 Coach).

The under-14's season began on Sunday with a fixture against Cowbridge and they are busy planning a trip to Dublin including a visit to Lansdowne Road in November.

Fixtures for Sunday, September 30 are Mini's at home and Juniors away to the CIACS. For information about Penarth Mini/Junior RFC telephone 029 2070 7108.