The annual Hearts and Balls rugby afternoon, held to raise funds and awareness of the charity, takes place at Oriam on 28 December this year and we’d love to see you there.
The 2025 event is being held in memory not only, as before, of the late Jim Taylor MBE but also Ian McLauchlan OBE, who passed away earlier this year. We spoke with Ian’s son, Andrew, about his dad’s connection with the charity of which he had been a Director.
“I think Hearts and Balls gave him a structure to do what he’d always done, which was quietly help others,” says Andrew.
“I remember, as a very young child, being taken by him to people’s houses where somebody would have suffered a rugby injury and we’d go round and see how they were doing.
“Hearts and Balls gave him that framework to raise money and help people, more directly, who had been injured, as well as just being an advocate for rugby looking after its own.”
Andrew recalls he did, in the main, tend to keep his rugby and family life separate, however.
“After we kids left home, he was always interested in what we were doing but when we asked him what he’d been up to he’d reply, ‘I went to Milan’ or Dublin or Paris, as if it was no big deal. He’d add that ‘they’re always trying to get me to stay overnight but I just want to come home to your mum.’
“He couldn’t get his head around the need for receipts on those trips either but he was blessed with a business partner, Audrey, who used to make these things happen!
“Dad was a character and I know he helped numerous people. We found out, when he passed away, that he’d given money to the Salvation Army – a less religious person you could never have met! – but he thought they did a good job at helping people. So, I think he was immensely proud of Hearts and Balls in the way that they assist players in need.”
What would Ian McLauchlan OBE make, then, of having this year’s matches played in his memory?
“I think he’d be quietly very happy,” reckons Andrew, “and though, internally, he wouldn’t have wanted a fuss, he would be happy that what he had done would be recognised.
“He was immensely proud of getting the OBE, also of becoming President of Scottish Rugby, though shied away from the fanfare.
“On his 70th birthday, for example, he and mum were down at the Melrose Sevens and the band surrounded him. playing Happy Birthday. My mother was absolutely delighted because she said, ‘your dad’s never embarrassed about anything but he was well embarrassed then’!
“So, I think that’s how he would feel – really happy, keen for people to come along and watch the games and support the charity.
“He may have been hugely ambitious and extremely determined but he was also very, very kind.”
Photo: Scottish Rugby
