Having battled the challenges of Bristol traffic and train mishaps it was fantastic to see nearly 500 descend on the Lansdowne Suite at Bristol’s Ashton Gate stadium last Wednesday. With the UKAF rugby team pitched against a fabulous list of legendary rugby stars from Mike Tindall’s ‘Rugby for Heroes’ Barbarians, the crowd of several thousand were entertained to a first class match despite the weather doing its best to dampen the spirits.
The superb gathering of players, stars, sponsors and supporters in the hospitality suite gave rise to wonderful atmospherics and an opportunity to raise significant sums of money towards the various charities for the night for this very special Remembrance fixture.
Great fare and a lively fundraising auction preceded the customary and very poignant start to proceedings with the on-pitch act of Remembrance and two minutes silence. The match itself was a fabulous spectacle of flowing rugby and although the UKAF Team, fresh from their exploits in Japan trailed the all-star opposition going into half time, the stage was set for a second half show down. The teams did not disappoint and the entertaining, hard fought match saw the Forces team claw their way back to finally take victory 29-26 at the final whistle; a great result
With SSAFA being the principal charity of the night along with Rugby for Heroes and Police Welfare charities, it was a cracking night and our thanks go out to the many sponsors and supporters that made it possible particularly Dell, Fujitsu, Mercedes Benz, XMA, Atkins, Collins Aerospace and Secure Cloud+.
Images courtesy of https://alliginphotography.co.uk/
