Hundreds raised for charity in Cotswolds football initiative
A community partnership between a housing association and local football club has raised hundreds of pounds for two local charities.
The Bromford Challenge Cup was battled out recently in an initiative between Tetbury Town Football Club and housing provider Bromford, which owns or manages around 8,000 homes across the Cotswolds and Gloucestershire. In a free-scoring game, colleagues from Bromford offices in Cirencester, Andoversford and Chipping Sodbury pitted their footballing skills against each other as the score finished an entertaining 7-7.
Tetbury Town FC backed the initiative by donating the use of their match kit and first-team pitch as £300 was raised on the day. The funds will now be split between St Peter’s Hospice and the YouCan Foundation, Bromford’s in-house charity which funds community projects and bright ideas across its operating area including in Gloucestershire.
The initiative aimed to bring different colleagues together following the partnership between Bromford and South Gloucestershire-based Merlin Housing Society in July, creating a new organisation with plans to invest £1.5bn in 14,000 new homes over the next decade – half of which will be in the Gloucestershire area.
Cathy Michaels, Bromford’s locality manager, said: “We have to say a massive thank you to Tetbury Town FC who really embraced our community building approach by giving us full use of their splendid facilities absolutely free. In turn, local neighbourhood coaches will be supporting young customers to access their youth coaching programme with grant funding support from YouCan where possible.
“We were overwhelmed by the response, not just by those offering to play but also colleagues who baked cakes for the charity sale and cheered the guys on, and we hope this is the start of a fantastic tradition of bringing colleagues together. It was a thrilling game of football with a number of colleagues being noticed by Tetbury Town talent scouts so we’ve already prepped them for the telephone call and subsequent call up!”
Tetbury Town first team manager Joel Skinner added: “We were delighted to be part of such a great initiative and for such a fantastic cause. As a community football club we are fully aware of the important part that local organisations play in what is being achieved and are all too happy to help.
“Whilst a 7-7 draw isn’t ideal for the defensive purist, it was certainly an entertaining game with some classy football being played! We look forward to welcoming them all back for the next leg of the Bromford Challenge Cup.”
To find out more about the community work YouCan does visit: www.thisisyoucan.org