The Edinburgh Reporter May 2024

NORTH BERWICK RUGBY CLUB

have earned praise for helping

10-year-old member Ollie

McMillan fundraise for his Marfan

Syndrome charity.

Last October Ollie had two

consecutive Pneumothorax which

is a collapsed lung.  An operation

and seven titanium staples

followed.

He was diagnosed in January

with the rare condition which has

required him to quit playing

rugby.

But it has not stopped his

resilience or determination to

charity fundraise and draw

attention to Marfan and the club

have rallied round. 

Ollie’s P6 rugby coaches and

team mates at the club helped

raise funds with an East Lothian

three  peaks hike while Ollie is

tackling Ben Nevis later this

month.

Ollie arranged a virtual race

night where the whole club

supported sponsored races,

bought horses and raised more

money. 

In total just over £5,000 from a

£1,000 target has been raised with

half of that coming from the North

Berwick rugby community. 

Dad Gib, said: “We are grateful

for their support, but even more

grateful in how they care and help

Ollie out with fundraising.  They

keep him involved in each of his

clubs. He coaches the P3 rugby

team, (is a) recently appointed

analysis drone flying coach for p6

and still plays football. All

this to keep a young lad

involved with the club

and his friends. 

“Our club is more than just

rugby. Dan Carter in a podcast

once said “better people make

better All Blacks”, we certainly

have better people at our club

t o o .”

For his efforts Ollie’s been

nominated as a young fundraiser

of the year with JustGiving and

headed for Old Trafford for

Manchester United’s Captains’

Lounge when they tackled

Burnley at the end of last

month.

21

Rugby club rally round Ollie

Badminton triple

crown for Deepti

Kari is on board at Stew-Mel

EDINBURGH’S DEEPTI VIJAYAKUMAR,

15, completed a clean sweep of titles at

the Scottish under-17 badminton

championships in Perth.

In the singles final Deepti beat Qing

Yang Xiao then teamed up with her to win

the girls’ doubles, beating Anishita Jaiswal

and Ingrid Wang in the final.

In the mixed doubles Deepti partnered

Lewis Smith to victory over Lingyun Xiao

and Qing Yang Xiao.

In the boys’ events Alfie Martin won the

singles against Yingyun Xiao partnering

him to doubles success at the expense of

Ciaran Hope and Alfie Sweeney.

In the under-13 singles Yingfan Wang

beat James Huang and in the girls’ event

Emily Jobson won against Akshara Chavan.

The boys’ doubles was a triumph for

Yinming Oscar Feng and Yingfan Wang

against Divyam Goyal and James Huang

while Akshara Chavan and Emily Jobson

won the girls’ doubles against Josie

Columbine and Sophie Mackay.

STEWART’S MELVILLE cricket

club have welcomed Kari Carswell

on board as a women’s team coach.

Kari has had a role as Head of

Woman’s Cricket at Middlesex and

MCC, and has now taken up her new

role at Inverleith.

Kari will work alongside Hannah

Short to continue the growth and

success of the woman’s and girls

section.

Someone who is becoming part

of the furniture at Stewart’s Melville

is Shaylen Pillay who is returning for

a sixth season as overseas

professional.

Stewart’s Melville are due to open

their Eastern Premiership campaign

on Saturday 4 May at home to

Falkland.

THE DECISION to push the start of
this season’s Eastern Cricket
Premiership back a week until
Saturday, 4 May, due to the recent
inclement weather, has afforded a
longer settling in period for new
players at various clubs.
And few have been busier
over the winter than defending
champions and Scottish Grand
Final winners, Grange.
Not only have they recruited
new sponsors, more of which
later, but also a string of
recruits one of whom, Jamie
Crawley, has already made a
mark by hitting 119 for
Scottish Saltires in a win over
the MCC at Lord’s last
month.
Crawley, one imagines, will
be champing at the bit to get
into league action for the club
his internationalist dad, Steve,
served well when the curtain
goes up for Grange at
Watsonians.
Watching on as Jamie
compiled his Lord’s century
were his new club-mates -
Finlay McCreath, Jack Jarvis

and Jasper Davidson. a

trio of all rounders.

Davidson, a

Scotland under-19

cap in 2020, joined

this season after

learning much of

his cricket in South

Africa and

having also

played for

Stirling County.

From further

afield comes batter Liam Smith

(left), an Australian who has

represented Queensland at age

group level. He is also a Cricket

Australia level 2 coach.

Captaining Grange men will

be Angus Brown while

Catherine Edwards, a Scotland

cap, takes the helm of the

women’s team who have

recruited Scotland star Ellen

Watson (pictured right).

Sponsoring Grange this

season will be Cold Town Beer

and Murray Capital whose

names will appear on the men’s

and women’s kit with Rathbones

sponsoring the Grange juniors. team.

AJ Rushing

Grange well prepared

to defend their titles

Angus Brown

Kari moves from MCC

to Inverleith

Fundraiser Ollie

L-R Finlay, Jamie, Jack

and Jasper

Ellen Watson

in action

Alex Davies