The Review Issue 3 | Page 24

24 To place editorial email [email protected] s te wa rton annick fc ma ki ng a di ffe r en c e ste wa rto n a nn i c k h av e h a d a r an ge of st ri p s ove r t h e y ear s , an d t h ough they t ry the i r b es t to h a n d t h em down be t w e e n ag e g r o up s t h ey h av e be e n lu c k y to r ec ei v e s p o n s o r s h ip from a nu mbe r o f g en er o u s b u sine s se s e n ab l in g t h em to p urcha se ne w s t r ip s . Stewarton Annick received another email recently from Sukhita Child along with the picture below: “This is one of your largest team strips that we donated. A community project in Kandy are the proud recipients who now have a team strip for the first time! The community group are made up of young adults and older, as well as some with special needs. With these strips, their motivation to play is exceptional. As you can see from the picture, they are all taking football forward with a passion thanks to your donation! It also has to be remembered that Sri Lanka’s No 1 sport is Cricket so to have a football team picture is fantastic!” This then results in a number of older strips being surplus to requirements and rather than these just being thrown out, David Watson has been collating strips then providing them to Sukhita Child (www.sukhitachild.org), a Scottish charity set up to relieve the suffering of children and young persons affected by poverty, malnutrition or disease, with efforts focussed on supporting children and communities in Sri Lanka. The following has been provided by Sukhita Child: We met with David Watson of Stewarton Annick Youth Football Club who had heard of our charity. David had several strips from over the years that had not been used by his players and kindly donated them to Sukhita Child for the kids in Sri Lanka who love football and other team sports. David’s donation is the first from a youth football club, prior to which we were the grateful recipients of donations from Scottish Premier League teams Celtic and St Mirren.” A massive well done to David for taking the time to coordinate this and making such a difference. unde r 1 6s b i g gam e Our trustee, John Fisher, is delighted with David’s generosity: “We are so pleased with the football strips and the great thing about them is that they’re suited for children of most ages. Those kids whose lives were devastated by the Tsunami, and the kids in the street projects we support, all love games whether it’s football or cricket, they just like being part of something, and that’s true for all of us. We like to belong somewhere to someone and being part of a team epitomises that.” One set of strips was donated to the children at Manacare (the village of hopes and dreams) which is a coastal oasis created following the Tsunami devastation. Manacare’s founder is Joy, a wonderful lady with an enormous capacity to care. “Stewarton Annick Football Club won’t realise just how much of an impact their strips will have on the kids here. The strips will help give them a sense of what it feels like to belong to something positive, to be part of something good. Thank you very much Stewarton Annick Football Club!” Another set of strips was delivered to Child Action Lanka (CAL), a street-kids project in Kandy, Sri Lanka. Over 100 children are supported by CAL and because of the football strips they will get a good sense of what it feels like to take part in a team sport with real team mates and a shared purpose. CAL’s founder is Deb, another wonderful lady with a great big heart. “These strips are wonderful news! The children here have nothing and the prospect of them sharing real team spirit and a common goal is just great. It will certainly be a very positive experience for them - and for me as I watch them! God bless the Scottish people.” Stewarton Annick under 16’s, enjoyed an early, end of season trip to Liverpool on the 3rd May, to watch the Everton v’s Man City match. Manager Muir Young used his considerable networking and influencing  skills to obtain 25 tickets from Everton and Stewarton Old boy, Steven Naismith. Steven also arranged for the boys to meet the Everton players and have their pictures taken.  Manager Muir said “ we had a cracking day out at Everton and the boys thoroughly enjoyed themselves. We’d like to thank Steven for all his help in arranging this excellent experience for us”.