A wonderful and enduring legacy emerged in 1983 after England’s Rugby team was defeated by the Irish. Drowning their sorrows in a Dublin bar, some English fans were presented with a wooden spoon by the victorious Irish to symbolise a winless Five Nations Championship.
Accepting the spoon with as much good humour and grace as possible, the friends resolved to hold a charity golf match to see who would have the honour of keeping the spoon. The money raised bought a minibus for a local special needs school and the idea of the charity was born.
Wooden Spoon makes a positive impact on the lives of disadvantaged children and young people across the four home nations. Since the charity first began, more than £20 million pounds has been raised and committed to benefit over 600,000 young people.
Denise Atkinson MBE, the driving force behind the renovation and upgrades at Lineham Farm established a relationship with the Wooden Spoon and this led to two donations to help support the building and upgrade work that has made Lineham Farm what is it today.
A legacy of support
The Yorkshire Regional Committee was founded in May 1992 when Nick Brown, now our Honorary Life President and several other like-minded people assembled at Elland Road to launch Wooden Spoon in Yorkshire. To mark its formation, the Wooden Spoon Trustees agreed a donation of £253,500 to help refurbish the derelict Lineham Farm for use as a children’s residential activity centre. The farm has since successfully developed and expanded beyond expectations as a flagship project.
Later, in February 2014, a grant of £20,000 was made to the Lineham Farm Children’s Trust to pay towards the conversion of an outbuilding to the dormitory and kitchen area.
Without these very generous donations and grants from the Wooden Spoon, Lineham Farm would not have been developed in the way that it has. Without these donations, Leeds Children’s Charity and the Lineham Farm Children’s Trust would not have had a centre to focus their work on following the merger and the creation of Leeds Children’s Charity at Lineham Farm.
“A brilliant organisation – long may their work continue”
Dave Norman MBE, the CEO of Leeds Children’s Charity at Lineham Farm, has said the following. ‘Organisations like the Wooden Spoon should be recognised for the great work they enable with young people from backgrounds of challenge and disadvantage. Their legacy of support at Lineham Farm is born out every day and over the years as more and more young people from backgrounds of challenge and disadvantage are worked with and supported at the centre. A brilliant organisation – long may their work continue’.
We are extremely grateful for the support we receive, and love to shine a light on the wonderful organisations and individuals who make our work possible. Read about over 70 years of fundraising by the Leeds and District Union of Golf Clubs (LDUGC) in this other supporter spotlight.