
A SADDLEWORTH football club has boosted its links with the community by donating brand new kits to two schools.
Uppermill FC, through its Uppermill In The Community (UITC) initiative, has handed over strips to Oasis Academy Limeside and Saddleworth School, specifically for its girls’ team.
And already the act is having a positive effect, with the primary school saying: “It is utterly wonderful to put a smile on youngsters faces with such a simple gesture.”
Uppermill FC’s chief executive, Steve Southern, gave out the kits after a successful Christmas Appeal, which saw £1,500 raised and split between two schools separately.
He sees it as the ambitious Manchester League club’s way of putting something back into the local and wider community of Saddleworth and Oldham.
And he said: “It’s a bit of a curious tale, but one of our supporters, local businessman, Chris Dummett, won a competition with his energy supplier, Octopus, for a new football kit.
“Chris then donated the kit to Uppermill FC. As we had recently replaced our junior team kits for all our junior teams, we agreed with Chris that it might be better used in being donated to a school in Oldham in need of a new kit.
“Using our community connections, we spoke with Oasis Academy Limeside and they said their children would be thrilled to have a brand new kit.
“So, as part of our UITC efforts, we were delighted to hand the kit over to Oasis.”
The idea for the second kit donation came from Chris Duckworth, chair of Uppermill FC’s junior section.
He explained: “Among the many things we are trying to achieve at the club, high on our list is to create the opportunity for girls to play football.
“While we have girls playing in our junior teams, we really would like to have a specific focus on creating girls and women’s teams.
“So, when we read that Saddleworth School had put out a plea for a sponsor to provide a new kit for their girls team, we thought that this was the perfect opportunity for us to both extend our Uppermill In The Community efforts and to take positive action to help provide the opportunity for local girls to play football.
“We spoke to our kit designers, Hope & Glory, and they were really helpful in designing a unique kit for the school.
“We are delighted to extend our links with Saddleworth School and we hope the girls enjoy wearing their new kit.”
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