Nordoff Robbins Legends Rugby Dinner

Celebrity with genuine purpose turned a luncheon into the music industry's most powerful fundraising template.

The inaugural Silver Clef Awards luncheon established Nordoff Robbins as the music industry's charity of choice. Major artists and record labels rallied behind the cause, creating a fundraising model that would later be adapted for the sporting world. The occasion proved that celebrity endorsement, paired with genuine purpose, could generate serious money for music therapy services across the country.

A ballroom of 1,000 guests proved that music therapy and football belonged on the same Park Lane pitch.

Nordoff Robbins expanded its fundraising into sport with the first Legends of Football dinner at the JW Marriott Grosvenor House Hotel on Park Lane. The format was simple and effective: honour a footballing great, fill a ballroom with 1,000 guests, and raise substantial sums for music therapy. The occasion quickly became one of the most prestigious dates on the football calendar and proved the template could work beyond the music industry.

Sport and music, it turns out, share the same audience; people who prize excellence, good company, and a proper night out.

Building on the success of the Legends of Football, Nordoff Robbins introduced a series of sporting occasions including golf days and race days. The charity recognised that sport and music shared a natural audience: people who valued excellence, camaraderie, and a good evening out. The groundwork was being laid for a rugby-specific experience that would tap into the sport's famously sociable culture.

Rugby's greatest storytellers, one black-tie room on Park Lane; the auction alone regularly cleared six figures.

Nordoff Robbins launched the Legends of Rugby Dinner, bringing together icons from both rugby union and rugby league for an evening at the Grosvenor House Hotel. The format mirrored the football dinner's winning formula: a black-tie gathering, outstanding speakers, and an auction that regularly raised six-figure sums. Rugby's tradition of post-match dinners and storytelling made it a natural fit for the charity's approach.

Legends who shaped the game sat close enough to whisper the stories television never broadcast.

The dinner attracted headline speakers including World Cup winners, British and Irish Lions captains, and legendary coaches from both codes of the game. Past attendees and speakers have included figures such as Sir Gareth Edwards, Lawrence Dallaglio, and Martin Johnson. The evening's appeal lay in its intimacy: guests sat just feet from players whose careers they had followed for decades, hearing stories that never made the match-day broadcast.

Over 50,000 music therapy sessions delivered across the UK in a single year; the numbers speak for themselves.

The charity underwent a significant rebrand, updating its visual identity and sharpening its messaging around the impact of music therapy. By this point, Nordoff Robbins was delivering over 50,000 music therapy sessions annually across the UK, working with partnership organisations in schools, hospitals, care homes, and community settings. The sporting dinners remained a cornerstone of the charity's fundraising strategy.

Over 54,000 sessions. Nearly 17,000 lives. One dinner helped make that possible.

In 2024, Nordoff and Robbins delivered 54,654 music therapy sessions, reaching 16,979 people through 391 partnership organisations. The Legends of Rugby Dinner, alongside the Legends of Football, Silver Clef Awards, and other occasions, has contributed to a fundraising effort that sustains this work year after year. Every table booked and every auction lot won translates directly into therapy sessions for people who need them most.