One Man Making a Big Difference
Sometimes the actions of one member can help to keep their rugby club going and that has certainly been the case at Avonmouth Old Boys, based in Bristol, where Matt Williams has gone the extra several hundred miles to help his club and local community during the pandemic.
Matt, whose family have made the club their second home for many years, is a member of their groundsmen team looking after the pitches. Lately though he has been looking after the club finances and the morale of local people.
With his own for hire minibus and his regular job at Costco, Matt has been delivering to those unable to get out. He’s dropped off toilet rolls, water and all the things they have needed. He’s also picked up prescriptions and been there over the months for the most vulnerable.
Over recent years, he has fundraised to make sure less advantaged youngsters could be provided with boots and kit so that they are able to play rugby at his club. Avonmouth host a full mini and junior section, women’s and girls’ rugby and three senior men’s teams.
During coronavirus he has stepped up his fundraising, running regular raffles which have snowballed, giving local people something to enjoy and look forward to. Over the months the prizes have become more and more desirable and the response has increased to the extent that Matt was able to hand £5,000 to the club in their hour of need.
With his sisters Alison and Natasha both playing for the women’s team and coaching girls’ teams, their children playing at Avonmouth too, Matt’ family are a significant part of their club.
Says club chairman Grant Britton: “What Matt has been doing has been massively uplifting. His raffles building up to Christmas have given people something to look forward to. He is a great advert for our club and his support, doing almost another full time job on top of his normal job, has boosted community morale and kept us the club going financially so that we can continue putting on rugby. H’s a real local hero.”
