A St. Helens football team has ended its playing season in style with a Presentation Weekend that raised almost £1,500 for the year ahead.
Parkdale Sidac FC has 28 teams with players age from U6 to U18, including three girls’ teams and a newly established open age 18+ team.
With hundreds of players to kit out and equipment to buy throughout the playing season, two parent liaison officers from the club’s girls’ teams, suggested using its recent Presentation Weekend as a fundraising opportunity.
Julie Sorby, who is a sales administrator for X-Press Legal Services which sponsors Parkdale Pumas, the club’s U15s girls team, helped organise the fundraiser as she explains:
“The Presentation Weekend is an annual event at our club where we celebrate the achievements of the teams throughout the playing season. This year, we decided to host a simple tombola and raffle as part of the event and were absolutely blown away by the support we received. As a grassroots club, we rely heavily on our players families and the local community so raising £1,500 in just one weekend was simply incredible.”
Julie’s daughter Lucy Sorby plays in a centre back position for the Parkdale Puma’s team. Passionate about UEFA’s drive to level up football for women and girls, Julie believes the opportunity to play locally is crucial for young girls:
“Football offers girls a fantastic social outlet,” continued Julie. “The chance to excel at something outside of school is incredibly important especially when traversing the teenage years. Football is a great physical activity but it delivers so much more by supporting youngsters’ mental health and wellbeing and teaching them vital skills such as discipline and sportsmanship which can be transferred to all aspects of their lives.
“I joined X-Press Legal Services over three years ago and when they learned of Lucy’s passion for football them immediately stepped up as a sponsor. It gives the team a huge boost knowing they have a local company championing their success and really does spur them on every match to deliver a good performance.”
Establishing a strong reputation within their league, the Parkdale Pumas reached the final of the Alf Holt Cup in Warrington last season and are hoping to further progress up the league when football resumes in September. Next season the team will be moving up to 11-a-side games for the first time, playing on full size pitches and with adult goals.
“It’s a big jump up but the girls are ambitious and excited for it,” added Julie. “The Women’s World Cup is a huge inspiration to them all and they are now desperate to get back to playing and emulating their national heroes!”
Lynne Lister, managing director of X-Press Legal Services commented: “We are thrilled to be sponsoring Parkdale Pumas for the fourth year in a row. We knew how important it is to encourage more girls into sport and are delighted to see how popular women’s football has become locally. Parkdale Sidac FC should be immensely proud of the difference it is making to youngsters in our community and X-Press Legal Services will be cheering on all its teams throughout the new season!”