Middlesbrough Football Club have announced that the club will be supporting the Sporting Memories Foundation as one of their three chosen charities for the forthcoming season.
The Sporting Memories Foundation is a charity established to support older people, living with dementia, depression or those who are lonely, through the use of memories of football and sport. Boro stars Stewart Downing and George Friend were on hand to help launch the news.
Sporting Memories Foundation recently launched a project across Middlesbrough and Redcar, training local organisations and volunteers to run weekly groups that use the history and heritage of sport on Teesside to trigger discussions, memories and which will help to establish new friendships and keep people connected. The training session was held at The Riverside and Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation are supporting the plans for the project.
The innovative approach to keeping older fans and former players connected was recognised at last year’s Football Business Awards when Sporting Memories was voted Best Football Community Scheme.
Boro legend Bernie Slaven & former Managing Director of Club England and FA Director of Communications Adrian Bevington, a lifelong Boro fan, are patrons of The Sporting Memories Foundation.
Tony Jameson-Allen, Co-founder & Director of Sporting Memories Network CIC & The Sporting Memories Foundation, said: “We are absolutely thrilled to be selected as one of this season’s chosen charities by Middlesbrough Football Club. We kicked off work with Middlesbrough Football Club Foundation earlier this year, using the history and heritage of the club to support older Boro fans living locally.
“There are so many stories to be told and memories to be shared, especially with this season being the 20th anniversary of the move from Ayresome Park to the Riverside Stadium.
The club’s support is going to be invaluable in helping us to reach more elderly people, to tackle loneliness and to help those living with dementia and depression by setting up more sporting memories groups across Teesside.”
From: Sporting Memories Foundation
19.05.16