Welcome to the Falcons Community Foundation

The Falcons Community Foundation is an independently registered charity.

Our aim is to motivate, educate and inspire young people via the power of sport. We work across five pillars of activity; club development, grassroots sports, health, social inclusion and education.

We run a huge range of exciting and educational activities to get the whole community involved in the world of rugby; everything from half-time tag rugby tournaments to summer beach rugby festivals, dance training and teaching sessions for local schools.

We work in close partnership with Newcastle Rugby Limited but are a financially separate organisation. In addition to satisfying the corporate social responsibility objectives of Newcastle Rugby Limited, the Foundation also aims to attract a new audience to the sport of rugby union.

The Foundation works alongside the RFU Community Rugby Coaches. For more information on Rugby Development Officers and Community Rugby Coaches in your area see www. Rfu.com

Board of trustees

The Foundation is governed by a board of trustees who meet monthly and oversee our work. Board members include:

Dave Thompson

Chairman of Newcastle Falcons, Dave Thompson has been a Key member of the Board of Trustees since the birth of the Charity.
A businessman but also a keen local rugby man, Dave bought out Sir John Hall's Sporting Club shareholding in 1999, kept faith with the coaching team, and ensured that professional rugby survived in the north-east.
Indeed, it was with his backing that the club reached the 2001 Tetley's Bitter Cup final, where a last-minute try from Dave Walder secured a dramatic late win over NEC Harlequins.

Mike Stephenson

Mike joined the Board of Trustees in October 2008, following a long standing association with the Club. Chairman of Rugby Charity Wooden Spoon Durham and father of former Falcons favourite Michael Stephenson, Mike is a keen supporter of North East Rugby at every level.
Mike is a Director of Durham-based company, Stephenson Cook. Stephenson Cook is comprised of a network of distribution branches specialising in the supply of Power, Data and Lighting products.

John Oates

John Oates has worked in professional sport of the last twelve years in a variety of roles including Commercial Manager at Newcastle Falcons, Community Programme Manager for Premier Rugby, Commercial Manager for NTL's interests in Premiership Football and now MD of Pro Stream LTD. Pro Stream Ltd works alongside Governing Bodies such as RFL, RFU and the Norwegian FA  and professional sports clubs such as Munster Rugby, Harlequins Rugby League, Hearts FC and Durham Cricket assisting them in the development of their "team off the field".

John Devine

John Devine, Partner at Newcastle-based law firm Watson Burton was instrumential in the establishment of the Falcons Community Foundation and has been a Trustee since it's creation in January 2005.

John is a partner in the Sports Business Group and Head of the Charity Law Group. With a strong commercial background, he specializes in both charity matters (including formations, mergers, governance and regulation) and the sports sector acting regularly on behalf of regulatory bodies, professional clubs and athletes including the preparation of commercial contracts, setting up charitable organizations, joint ventures, image rights structures and advising on corporate governance issues.
John has acted for over 80 professional clubs in football, rugby union, rugby league, basketball, cricket and ice hockey. He advises the Premier League, Football League Trust and their member clubs on community projects and has acted for the Rugby Football League and British Basketball League. He also acts for Premier League footballers, international rugby players and professional boxers.

Iain Ramage

Iain Ramage joined the board of Trustees in November 2008.
Iain is a Chartered Quantity Surveyor at Durham-based company Lambert Property Solutions. Specializing in project management in the commercial, leisure and education sectors, he has recently completed the new East Durham College project and Durham University's Calman Learning Centre. Ian was one of two Scottish match officials at the 1999 World Cup and the only Scottish representative of the 26 officials at the 2003 World Cup. Retiring from refereeing pro rugby in 2005, Ian still acts as TMO at pro games in Scotland and referee local rugby mainly in the Borders and the occasional overseas jaunt to Bermuda for the Classics. Ian is father of pro footballer son Peter who is at QPR and used to play for NUFC, and also has a daughter who trains dogs for the charity Hearing Dogs for the Deaf and a long suffering wife Anne.

Matthew Carter

Regional Rugby Development Manager for the North East and Yorkshire region, Matthew has been on the Board of Trustees since the Charity's inception in 2005..

Matthew heads up a dedicated team of Eight RFU Rugby Development Officers across the North East and Yorkshire who, in turn employ 32 Community Rugby Coaches, covering the different Districts and Local Authorities in the region.

The Rugby Football Union also has a Coach Development Officer, Referee Development Officer and two Club and Coach Development Officers covering the North-East and Yorkshire along with officers who cover Volunteering and Facilities development across the North of England.
 
 In addition the Rugby Football Union for Women (RFUW) has its own Development Officer who covers the North of England.

Falcons Community Foundation staff

The Foundation employs three full-time and two part-time members of staff:

Melanie Magee

Community Manager (melanie.magee@newcastle-falcons.co.uk)

Following a degree in History at Newcastle University, Melanie went on to study for a PGCE in Primary Education. She joined the Falcons Community Foundation in 2004 as Community Education Officer, running the Tackle Learning Scheme, which utilised children’s enthusiasm for playing rugby with advancing their Literary and Numeracy skills. Melanie has Managed the Falcons Community Foundation since 2007.

Danny Brown

 Lead Community Development Officer (danny.brown@newcastle-falcons.co.uk)

Danny started playing rugby when he was 11 at  Hummersknott  school in Darlington, before joining local club, Darlington Mowden Park RFC, in  1991  ,where his is now First Team Captain. He attended Barnard Castle Sixth Form and was spotted by Paul Makinnon (Falcons Academy manager) in 1997.

He played for the Falcons Academy for three years, and a further four years for the Falcons 2nd team and represented England at U18 and U21 level.

Danny joined the Falcons Community Foundation as a Community Development Officer in 1998. His main roles include coaching in schools, running the Falcons coaching camps and organising players to attend community visits.

Gavin Beasley

Community Development Officer (gavin.beasley@newcastle-falcons.co.uk)

Combining university studies in sport at Sunderland University with intensive training at the Academy, he made his first team debut for Newcastle Falcons on the 10th November 2006 against Harlequins. In 2004 he moved to play rugby at Tynedale in Corbridge helping them gain promotion into National 1.

In 2008 he toured America and Canada with the England Counties before returning to the Newcastle Falcons to work for the Falcons Community Foundation as a
Community Development Officer. His main role is to run the tag rugby programme within the schools, and coaching at the falcons coaching camps.

Gavin is passionate about his role at the Falcons and especially encouraging local young people to get active and get involved with rugby.

Amanda Drago

 Try Dance Programme Leader (amanda@fallingcat.co.uk)
 
Amanda and her team at Falling Cat run the Try Dance programme on behalf of the Falcons Community Foundation. Falling Cat is a resident dance company at Dance City, the national dance agency for the northern region and is artistically driven by choreographer Amanda Drago. Falling Cat has a reputation for delivering high quality projects that engage people in dance in new ways. Amanda trained at The Laban Centre, London and Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Leeds returning to the region in 1996. In 1998 she joined Northern Stage. her choreography includes Romeo and Juliet, Irvine Welsh's You'll Have Had Your Hole, Tony Harrisons "V" and acted as rehearsal director for 1984 and Clockwork Orange. After working as Dance Artist in Residence for Tees Dance Initiative she joined Dance City as Dance Development Manager eaving to form Falling Cat in 2004 and returning to the building as one of the resident dance companies.
Her recent choreography include touring works Strung and A Fine Line, major site specific commissions Hornpipe for Hartlepool (Big Dance 2008), Launch Events for both Sunderland Aquatic Centre and public art Looking Out Facing In.
Amanda has also taught at higher education level for colleges, dance agencies, universities and Dance City's gifted and talented children on the Advanced Training Programme.

Nicola Woods

Community Administrator (nicola.woods@newcastle-falcons.co.uk

Nicola joined Newcastle Falcons Community Foundation in October 2007.  Nicola works Part-time for the Foundation on Monday's Wednesday's and Thursdays.

Nicola's main role within the Department is to take all coaching camp bookings, organising mascot and birthday party bookings, camp registers, ebay auctions and distribution of information to schools and rugby clubs within the Community. 

Liz Ferguson

Volunteer Community Administrator (liz.ferguson@newcastle-falcons.co.uk)
Having moved to the North East to study Maths at Newcastle University, Liz became involved with FCF in February 2008 following a long standing interest in rugby and working in the community. After graduating, Liz traveled to Malawi to volunteer in an orphanage before returning to the North East. Liz is currently working as Information Officer for the Safeguarding Adults Unit as well as volunteering with the Falcons Community Foundation one day a week.

If you would like to volunteer within the Falcons Community Foundation please contact melanie.magee@newcastle-falcons.co.uk

Funding

To run the Falcons Community Foundation need to raise approximately £200k per year to continue to run it’s programmes. This figure is made up in the following ways;

• Community partners
• Central funding from Premier Rugby Ltd
• Local funding
• Lottery funding
• Match day lottery
• Fundraising events
• Auctions and raffles
• Coaching camps
• Touch rugby competitions
• Donations

If you are interested in offering your support to the Falcons Community Foundation or for sponsorship opportunities, please contact melanie.magee@newcastle-falcons.co.uk

Did you know you can donate to the Falcons Community Foundation via justgiving?

www.justgiving.com/Falconscommunityfoundation