Andrew Walker, from Closeburn, has been honoured as a guest at a Royal Reception in London.
Andrew’s one of a group of challengers raising money for Wooden Spoon – the children’s charity of rugby – by playing the most northerly match in history at the Magnetic North Pole. In April, Andrew and four other scots will be joining former Rugby Union Internationals Tim Stimpson (who played for the Auld Enemy and Leicester Tigers) and Ollie Phillips (former England 7s and Newcastle winger) on a pioneering expedition to walk 100 miles to the 1996 position of the Magnetic North Pole.
They all took time away from training and work to attend a special royal send-off by Wooden Spoon Royal Patron, HRH The Princess Royal. A notable equestrian sportswoman herself, Princess Anne spent time commenting about the ambition of the challenge and pointed out her own direct experience of seeing how the money raised by the charity is spent, making a difference to millions of lives. She presented Andrew with a flag – which he is going to carry to the Pole where it will be used as one of the pitch markers for their Arctic rugby match.
With the help of Dumfries’ own world-class polar adventurer, Jock Wishart, Andrew will be braving the freezing temperatures before playing the match to set a Guinness World Record in the northernmost rugby match in history.
After meeting HR Princess Anne, Andrew said: “Her Royal Highness has been a keen supporter of rugby, particularly in Scotland, so it was a great honour to meet her and hear of her support for our fundraising challenge for Wooden Spoon.” “We’ve had wonderful support and the onus is now on us as a team to make it to the North Pole and create history with a new world record whilst also raising £300,000 which will go directly towards helping disadvantaged children and young people throughout the UK and Ireland.”
