News

A special week for our Penarth club and volunteer Peter Owen!

Last week (20 September), our Penarth club held a special session ahead of volunteer Peter Owen’s trip to go and see Wales face Australia at the Rugby World Cup in France, courtesy of our partnership with Sportsbreaks.com.

Sportsbreaks.com have provided three of our volunteers, based in Wales, Scotland and England respectively, with the opportunity to go and watch their nation play in the biggest rugby tournament of them all with Peter being the first volunteer to head out to France over the course of last weekend.

Prior to Peter’s trip, Sporting Memories Wales held a special session at his regular club, based at Penarth Rugby And Athletics Club, where they welcomed members from across Cardiff as well as some special guests too.

Former Welsh Rugby international Alun Carter was in attendance, and he spent time with the audience of Sporting Memories members discussing his career in the sport as a player, representing the national team at the highest level as well as his club career with Pontypool and Newport. After his playing career, Alun went on to become an analyst for the national team and spoke of his involvement within the 2005 Grand Slam winning set-up.

Our other special guest for the session was local broadcaster and rugby commentator Phil Steele (pictured, right) who provided great entertainment to the members with his stories from commentating on the sport over the years, particularly with his tales of players both from the past and currently playing.

It was a great day with everyone getting into the Rugby World Cup theme by wearing their Welsh rugby jerseys and colours and taking on a specially created rugby-themed quiz.

Following the session during the week, it was time for Peter to make the trip to Lyon where he was able to watch the Welsh take on Australia in a record-breaking match, with the Welsh securing their largest ever victory over the Wallabies by 40 points to 6.

After the match, Peter reflected on a fantastic experience: “What a night it was – Wales completing their biggest ever win against Australia – and I was there! It was fantastic to be here as a representative for Sporting Memories Wales and also thanks to the generosity of Sportsbreaks.com. Now that we’ve won, I think we’re (Wales) going to go all the way and lift the trophy!”

Rob Baker, Project Coordinator, said: “We were delighted to send Peter off in style by hosting a session where we gathered a few clubs locally to take part in a fun event. Our thanks must go to Alun and Phil for really adding some great insight and joy into the day with their experiences in Rugby Union.

“Finally, I’d like to also thank sportsbreaks.com for giving Peter the amazing opportunity to go and watch at the Rugby World Cup – and what a game it was!

“It’s really nice that we could offer one of our volunteers the chance to go and make some incredible sporting memories of their own, and I’m already looking forward to hearing Peter talk about his time in France at the next session.”

To find out more about our partnership with Sportsbreaks.com, click here