Editor:
The Ladysmith Secondary School rugby team fundraised for more than two years for a trip to England, but due to certain circumstances, the trip was cancelled and alternate arrangements were made for them to go to a tournament in Fullerton, Calif., in March.
We would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone who helped make the trip possible, especially the parents, coach Pete Kis-Toth and principal Doug English. We received cash donations from Airwest Heating and Gas, Ladysmith and District Credit Union and TimberWest Forest Corporation, and the trucking of compost was donated from Coastal Excavating.
We had tremendous support from the community in all of our fundraising events, especially bottle drives and the annual compost sale, and without all of this support, the trip would not have been possible.
The boys had a great time. They did not come first in the tournament, but they did extremely well against some very big boys, and it was an excellent experience for them. They represented Ladysmith and Canada very well, and were constantly praised on their manners — people knew right away they were not from L.A. and guessed that they were Canadian. What a great bunch of kids Ladysmith has raised — well done boys!
If anyone would like to see some pictures from the trip, principal Doug English has made a blog at lssblues-tour2012.blogspot.ca.
Nicole Adams
Ladysmith