A special Touch Rugby match commemorating the life of a much-loved man who founded a now thriving club in Lincoln will take place this weekend before becoming an annual fixture in his memory.
Father-of-two Mike Beard sadly died when he was cycling to a rugby tournament and was involved in a collision with a school bus on March 25, 2015. An inquest later concluded Mike died from multiple injuries sustained in the crash.
The 31-year-old was much loved by everyone at Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School where he taught rugby, his colleagues within the doorman community and at Lincoln Rugby Club, and from so many others in the city, with more than £20,000 raised in his memory.
Mike set up Lincoln Touch in 2012, which is part of Lincoln Rugby Club, with just four members. It has grown steadily over the years and now has up to 30 regular players through the winter and 40-50 in the summer.
Past players have also gone onto further success, including Will Lupton who represented England at the Touch World Cup in 2019, testament to the heard work of Mike.
Mike with his Lincoln Touch teammates. | Photo: Lincoln Touch
Lincoln Rugby Club, which is located on Lodge Lane in Nettleham, will host the first Mike Beard Lincolnshire Touch Shield at on Saturday, March 12, less than two weeks away from the seventh anniversary of his tragic passing.
The event will run between 10.30am-1pm, with the 40-minute match expected to kick-off at around 12pm.
Mike was loved by so many people and always put others first. | Photo: Lincoln Touch
A donations page was set up in support of Michael’s family. Donations topped £10k in 24 hours.
Samuel Roylance took over as head of Lincoln Touch after his close friend’s tragic death, and has been one of the key organisers of this weekend’s memorial match.
He told The Lincolnite: “Before Mike’s passing in March 2015 he always wanted Touch to grow in Lincolnshire with other touch teams becoming part of his vision and love of Touch.
“Mike would’ve really enjoyed where we’ve taken Lincoln Touch for him since his passing away and that we are still carrying on his vision of building touch in Lincolnshire.”
“Having a trophy or a tournament to remember Mike’s memory and continue the growth if Touch as an all all inclusive sport for all in Lincolnshire, has always been an idea of mine.
“Now it is coming to light with the help of Isle touch up in Epworth North Lincolnshire. So will be an exciting day for touch in our county to promote Touch.”
Mike wearing the original Lincoln Touch kit. | Photo: Lincoln Touch
Lincoln Touch train on Tuesday evenings (7pm-9pm) throughout the year, only stopping for Christmas – more details can be found here.
He added: “I know of a few clubs in Lincolnshire who have set up Touch but not taken it to the next level, being competitive and joining the ETA (England Touch association).
“By playing with Isle Touch hopefully this will show it is a competitive sport to those other teams in Lincolnshire to get in contact with us.”
Eloise James was a good friend of Mike’s and played with him at Lincoln Touch. She said: “Mikey was a man who commanded the attention of the room, when he spoke you listened.
“His ability to make you believe in yourself was infectious and he made you think you could do anything you out your mind to. He was and still is an inspiration for us as a club, and in our everyday lives.
“He pushed me and others into a world of sport we never knew even existed and shaped up as the people we are today.”
Mike taught rugby at Lincoln Christ’s Hospital School and was working with the RFU Touch Programme. | Photo: Lincoln Touch
Lincoln’s opponents Isle Touch Rugby are coming to the end of their fourth year after being launched by Warren Steele and three other players in a community park in Belton in North Lincolnshire.
The club has grown to around 30 players, catering for mixed male/female sessions. It is currently the only ETA registered club in North Lincolnshire and has moved to a new HQ in Epworth.
Warren said: “Our next evolution is now the development of the Mike Beard Lincolnshire Cup where LTR and ITR will inaugurate the “cup” with what I would hope to evolve into additional clubs joining us in time.”
The winner of the match will then get to defend their title in 2023 from another ETA Lincolnshire registered club who wants to challenge for the silverware.
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Nominations are open for schools and education settings to be recognised in the 2022 Lincolnshire Education Excellence Awards.
The event is organised by Stonebow Media, publishers of The Lincolnite, to celebrate the best school and teachers in Greater Lincolnshire.
The headline sponsors making the awards possible are Lincoln College Group.
Twelve categories are now open for nominations. The deadline for nominations is June 3, with a judging lunch scheduled for June 7.
Nominations are open from parents, carers, friends, families or education settings themselves, so if you know someone who deserving of winning now is the time to vote!
The awards ceremony will be held at the Engine Shed on July 7.
It’s been a week since the controversial statue of Margaret Thatcher was installed in Grantham’s St Peter’s Hill.
The £300,000 bronze monument immediately caused a stir and debate from both supporters and opponents of the first female Prime Minister of the UK.
Within hours of its 7am installation last Sunday, it had already been egged by a man later revealed to be 59-year-old Jeremy Webster, a deputy director at the Attenborough Arts Centre at the University of Leicester.
Mr Webster’s mother-in-law recently described his actions as “childish”.
Quoted in the MailOnline she said: “Margaret Thatcher lasted a long time in power. She was a trailblazer as the first woman prime minister and she had such energy, even though I know she slept very little.
“I’m very surprised to hear about all of this [egg throwing]. I’m going to have to call my daughter. I wouldn’t have thought Jeremy would be the sort of person to do this. It seems very childish to me – he has a responsible job.”
There have been reports of other antisocial behaviour taking place including people urinating up the statue, but investigations into these are yet to be confirmed by officials.
Away from the statue itself, others took to social media to react to the new monument.
Twitterer @BolsoverBeast thought Mr Webster’s actions should be expanded as a way to… get more people involved?
I think it would be a good idea to put Thatcher’s statue on a low loader and tow it slowly around the country so that we all have a chance to throw something at it. pic.twitter.com/uftMqr0LgR
— Chloe Schlosberg (@ChloeSchlosberg) May 19, 2022
Some called back to the fate of other statues
@Irritatedllama called back to the fate of slave trader Edward Colston who was thrown into the Bristol Harby in June 2020.
It's absolutely disgraceful that people are throwing eggs at the Margaret Thatcher statue in Grantham! We need to deploy a taskforce to give it jolly good wash!#Granthampic.twitter.com/RKftKUls4u
It wasn’t long before a parody account of the statue was set up on Twitter – nor before “she” was interacting with other parody accounts.
It was awful. I could see almost all of Grantham
— That Statue of Thatcher (@thatcher_statue) May 18, 2022
A… positive view?
There were supporters of the statue, however, Darren Grimes from GBNews was one of the few popular posts calling on people not to “give in to threats of petty vandalism”. He later posted the statue should be in parliament – where it was previously rejected from.
I honestly think Margaret Thatcher would have found this first round of petty vandalism of her statue to be utterly hilarious.
The statue looks absolutely glorious.
Almost a decade on from her passing, she’s still winding them up!
Some, like @Jonnyhibberd were more measured in their response.
I don't see a problem with a Thatcher statue and I also don't see a problem with people throwing eggs at it. Thatcher is an important part of our history, and so is what a lot of people thought about her.
— Jonathan Hibberd 🇺🇦 (@Jonnyhibberd) May 18, 2022
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