Author: Tim Gregson

At our recent Branch Meeting we approved a donation of £350 for AFC Masters to go towards developing their ‘Brew Club’ Podcast – an initiative started during the pandemic to keep players and club friends connected. You can find out more about the club and how the donation will be used below. The club are very active on social media – why not give them a follow on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter – to see what they get up to.

My name is Iain Massingham and I am the general manager of AFC Masters. We are a football club, based in Horwich near Bolton, for children and adults who have a disability. We have around 100 players aged from 4 years old right through to their 40s and beyond (myself included in that bracket). We have been running for 15 years now and focus on our three main principles of Fun, Friendship and Football.

During the pandemic we had to, understandably, stop football and up until very recently we hadn’t kicked a ball in over a year. Many of our players have been shielding and were very isolated over the 12 months so we quickly developed a programme of virtual and online activities to keep them entertained and connected with their friends. We welcomed new members to the club over this time who were going through similar circumstances and now as we start to return to the football pitch we hope to get them down to training.

One virtual activity we have been running is our podcast “Brew Club” which runs every Monday evening where we have a different guest who comes on to talk to our hosts, Eve and Mel. We have a leaning towards Mental Health and Wellbeing with the Brew Club and we have big plans to develop it as we move forwards. The funding kindly donated by your organisation would be put into enabling us to do this, and we would be more than happy to credit during the podcast itself.

At our recent Branch meeting we approved a donation of £350 to local Charity A.C.E – Achieve, Change, Engagement – to support their links with Lancaster City U18s. Below you can find out more about the charity and how the money will be spent.

We are seeking support for a local charity through the sponsorship of a football team based at Lancaster City.

Firstly, the charity, A-C-E (Achieve Change and Engagement) are a charity supporting young people aged between 11 and 25 with mental health and wellbeing problems, offering one to one support and therapy. As you will appreciate, times such as we are experiencing can have serious effects on young people. The charity supports over 350 young people at any one time and often have a waiting list of over 60.

We are hoping to provide the charity with an opportunity to increase their visibility in the local area and raise vital funds by linking them with the second of the organisations, Lancaster City FC U18’s football team. The team progressed from a local football development center and will represent Lancaster City FC in the North West Youth Alliance League playing fixtures across the north west of England as well as the national FA Youth Cup. Our hope is that a number of local supporters will become involved in both the charity and the football team.

The intention would be that the football team would wear shirts with the A.C.E logo. We have also secured a page within the Lancaster City first team match day programme next season to promote the supporters of this initiative.

We are hopeful that we can not only provide A.C.E with increased exposure through the shirt sponsorship, company links and social media but we would also be able to make a financial contribution to their ongoing support costs.  With your support, young people in the local area will be able to continue to access the excellent services offered by ACE and the team can continue with their football development. If you wish to discuss opportunities to become one of our supporters, do feel free to telephone or email.