Rugby club comes to rescue of couple

Carolyn Bray Boston Rugby Clubs minis and juniors chairman (left) with Simon Upton, father of the 19-year-old who lost everything in the fire at his and his partner's house, and club chairman Steve Loveley. NA

The 19-year-old son of Jeanette and Simon Upton and his partner were out of their mobile home in Old Leake when a fire took hold, destroying the contents and sadly killing their pets - a dog and a tortoise.

However, upon hearing the news, Carolyn Bray, the club’s minis and juniors chairman, put out a call for help for the young couple – who did not want to be named in The Standard – and immediately members responded, providing almost everything on the list of required items.

Mrs Bray, from Boston Rugby Club said: “This is very much what BRFC, and the sport as a whole, is about. It’s about the people on the sidelines as well as the players.

“They are one of our own and from that point of view that’s been the focus.”

Mum Jeanette, whose younger son attends the rugby club, said the couple had been ‘overwhelmed’ by the response of what were ‘effectively strangers’ to the youngsters.

She said: “They don’t know them so they have been overwhelmed by the generosity and help.”

However, she added the two were ‘slightly embarrassed’ by having to accept charity from strangers.

She said the hardest part had been losing their pets, saying the couple had been ‘heartbroken’.

She said the couple – who had been living in the home for 18 months – were beginning to get back on their feet.