The rugby team are gathering essential supplies for hospital patients across South Wales
TAFFS Well Ladies RFC are collecting donations of essential supplies for south Wales hospital patients.
As friends and family are currently prohibited from visiting, many patients are not able to get hold of the toiletries they may need.
“They’re not able to get the things they usually do, like smellies and so the hospitals are running short,” said team manager Teri Knight.
The rugby team has already made donations to the University Hospital of Wales in Cardiff, following an appeal from the manager’s sister-in-law, who is a nurse at the hospital.
Mrs Knight is now hoping to supply other hospitals in south Wales, such as Prince Charles Hospital in Merthyr and the Royal Glamorgan Hospital in Llantrisant.
“We realised that it’s not just the University Hospital who are going to be struggling,” she said.
The appeal calls for items like toothbrushes, toothpaste, deodorant, shower gel and combs.
Items such as nappies and female hygiene products including tampons and sanitary towels were also listed as useful donations.
Taffs Well RFC Ladies was originally assembled for a one-off charity match against Beddau but they soon decided to carry on playing.
“So many girls came to me saying ‘I don’t want to stop, I loved it’ so we just carried on,” said Mrs Knight.
The women have been actively involved in multiple charitable efforts ever since they formed the team.
According to Mrs Knight, local residents think of the rugby football club as the hub of the village so there are always people willing to help out with campaigns.
“We’re all in this together and we all work really well as a team, it’s easy for us to do, so why not do it?” she added.
The teams first fundraising effort followed Storm Dennis in 2020, which caused flooding that devastated a great number of households in the village and many other towns in the south Wales valleys.
They then went on to lead a successful Christmas campaign, providing local care homes with festive hampers.
The ladies have similar plans over Easter and are already taking donations of easter eggs for an Easter Appeal.
- If you want to make a donation you can get in touch with TWRFC Ladies via their Facebook page here.
- Donations can be delivered to a team member in your area or alternatively a weekend collection can be arranged.
