Chilterns Lions Lunch raises £11,500

The Wooden Spoon Chiltern’s Sporting lunch has now become a permanent fixture on the Chiltern regions calendar. In recent years, we have been graced with wonderful guests Ryan Jones, Dean Richards, Graham Price. All three of those were British and Irish Lions, so in this Lions year we decided that we would continue the Lions theme.

On 6 June 2025 in The Great Hall at Bisham Abbey in Marlow, it was a great honour for us to look forward to the up-and-coming Lions tour in Australia, by have the legendary Australian Captain, Michale Lynagh AM and Wales, British and Irish Lion, Dwayne Peel in conversation with Stephen Jones, Rugby correspondent of The Sunday Times.

One hundred guests enjoyed a wonderful lunch and were entertained by MC Ian Richards before they heard from the sporting guests. The conversation about tour selection sparked many questions from the audience and they were also entertained by ‘on tour’ stories.

The audience also heard from Kate Cliffe, Head teacher at Carrington Infants School, who explained very eloquently how our recent £25,000 investment in a Sensory room at the school had changed the lives of the pupils bringing a place of calm into their hectic daily lives.

A live and Silent auction took place with some wonderful items, including two Michael Lynagh signed books as well as a very special bottle of wine from his ‘garden’ in Italy.

Overall, the objective of the day was to enjoy great food and great company and to hear from our speakers and raise funds for disadvantaged Children and Young Adults in the Chiltern region. The Chiltern’s committee are very grateful that our objectives were achieved, and we are delighted to announce that the lunch raised £11,500.

We will now look at suitable projects where we can spend that money in the Chiltern region.