Charity tournament is held at Barnards
A CHARITY fundraising tournament was held at Barnards Soccer Centre in Lowestoft.
The five-a-side tournament, which took place at the Suffolk FA facility on Sunday, was aimed at raising money and awareness for the Angels and Rainbows charity. The event has so far raised just under £1,000 with donations still coming in.
A dozen teams entered the tournament, playing in two round-robin groups of six, with the group winners playing the runners-up in crossover semi-finals.
The final itself was won by GoalGoal Power Rangers, who defeated Old and Past It 1-0 in extra time thanks to a Kirk Gowing goal.
The winning GoalGoal Power Rangers side. Main photograph: Winning goalscorer Kirk Gowing (controlling the ball) is pictured in action in the final versus Old and Past It
Angels and Rainbows is a pregnancy and baby loss support group based in Lowestoft, supporting families in Norfolk and Suffolk, created in 2018 by local mum of two boys and two angel babies, Justine Maher.
Justine said: “Our group is unique in that we believe that our support should be kept local. We are a small charity and only operate in Norfolk and Suffolk, therefore, we can only help families in those areas.
“No family should have to go through this awful experience alone and we want to try our hardest to support everyone.”
Justine said there are many ways in which Angels and Rainbows can help families. These include:
- Be-friender scheme - we will appoint a group volunteer who will be happy to chat over the phone or with you or via messenger.
- Group meetings - We have regular meetings which are open to anyone in the group. These can be anything from coffee mornings, Afternoon Tea, wellbeing walks or pamper evenings.
- Counselling - we can provide FREE counselling sessions with a trained counsellor (no waiting list)
Action from the five-a-side tournament at Barnards Soccer Centre in Lowestoft on Sunday.
Suffolk FA Facilities & Football Development Officer Chris Bond, who runs Barnards Soccer Centre, said: ‘’When Justine & Amanda from the charity approached us to host this event a couple of months back, I was delighted to be able to offer to help.
“The tournament was a resounding success, and it was a pleasure for us at Suffolk FA to support such a worthy cause. I personally wanted to say thank you to all the teams who made donations and played the games in such great spirit.
“The referees who kindly waived their match fees, Jason Dobson from Waveney FC who assisted with the organisation and everyone who came down to watch and support.
“Congratulations to the winners GoalGoal Power Rangers who retained their trophy, and we look forward to hosting again next season.”
For more information about Angels and Rainbows please click the link below.
To visit the Angels and Rainbows GoFundMe page click below.
For more information on what else is happening at Barnards Soccer Centre, please contact barnards@suffolkfa.com
