Last night, Wednesday 15 November 2017, saw the inaugural Dream Steam Social – An Evening with Andy Gomarsall MBE at Steam Wine Bar in the heart of London. Our fabulous host for the evening, former RGS pupil, interviewer, auctioneer and owner, Stephen Chenery (’87) laid on a tremendous event with over 75 members of the Reigatian Community attending to show their support for the Changing Lives campaign.

To a rapturous applause the star of the show, former Wasps, Bedford, Gloucester, Worcester, Quins, Leeds Carnegie and England 2003 Rugby World Cup Winning Andy Gomarsall MBE was introduced to the stage. Talking about the early stages of his rugby life, his competitive nature and his talent at a variety of sports, Gomars spoke with real passion about the core values of rugby and how it appealed to the same ethos that he shared growing up, in fact it was sitting in front of the TV as a young lad listening to the ‘Voice of Rugby’ Bill McClaren that inspired him to take up the game seriously a few years later.

Guests were then treated to some delicious food and had the opportunity to partake in a higher and lower game to which Flo Coyle (RGS Parent) successfully managed to navigate his path through a whole host of tricky questions to take the winning prize home.

Stephen then took to the floor once again to take charge of the Auction, our main fundraising activity for the evening. With some fabulous items available: A Harry Potter Theatre Experience in the West End with former RGS pupil Alex Price (playing Draco Malfoy for the last 18 months), two tickets to England/ Australia at Twickenham, A Rugby Legends Lunch with Lawrence Dallaglio and Private Dining Expereience with top Chef Hari Ghotra, the bids flew in and the generosity of the group was overwhelming.

The aim of the evening was to raise enough funds to support one year of a Changing Lives bursary recipient here at RGS and we are delighted to announce that not only did we achieve this target, we but we ‘smashed’ it! – an incredible achievement on the night.

The evening was wrapped up with some Questions from the floor for ‘Gomars’. One in particular stood out and provided a fantastic insight into what it was that gave him the drive to push on from being a very good club player to a successful international rugby player with over 30 caps.

Our thanks go to Stephen Chenery for hosting this fantastic evening and of course to Gomars who took time out from his busy schedule to join us share his wonderful stories from his career. Most importantly thank you to everyone that attending and supported the evening, you made it a resounding success.

We are hoping to have our second Dream Steam Social later in 2018 so please keep your eyes peeled for more information.

Click here for more images from the night