CLUB Welfare Officers affiliated to Suffolk FA attended a thank you event.

The end-of-season event was held in the Sir Bobby Robson Suite at Portman Road, home of Ipswich Town FC.

It was attended by 25 Club Welfare Officers from across the county and Tracy Murphy from the Suffolk Safeguarding Partnership was among those present.

The guest speaker was Lee Walker from the FA Safeguarding Case Management team, who delivered a brief presentation about the CWOs role in the larger FA safeguarding realm.

Suffolk FA Designated Safeguarding Officer & Services Manager Hayley Chart said: “I held this event to acknowledge the difficult but fantastic job each volunteer welfare officer does each and every day for their club and our young people across the county.

“It was an opportunity for CWO’s to meet each other and develop all important networking links and working relationships to help support one another moving forward.”

The following week Hayley and Suffolk FA colleague Issy Chaplin attended a knife crime and county lines workshop with Paul Hannaford at The New Croft in Haverhill.

The event was held in response to recent tragic events earlier this year involving a young person being stabbed to death in the town by another young person.

Parents and players of Haverhill Rovers were invited along to a short evening workshop where Paul, who is a reformed heroin addict, shared his real life, lived experiences around these issues.