The past year has been tough, but thanks to the likes of Marcus Rashford MBE, important issues such as food poverty have been rightly placed in the spotlight and free school meals vouchers secured for over 1 million children during the holidays last year.
Atherton-born sport student Chris Colgan has seen underprivileged, deprived families first-hand in his community and wanted to create an event that helped make a difference to their lives. Inspired by the work of Marcus Rashford, Chris, along with Manchester Creative Collective Marketing owner Richard Renda, founded the Atherton Charity Shield.
What is the Atherton Charity Shield?
The 3-day football tournament running from Friday 25th to Sunday 27th of June, will see 16 amateur teams battle it out to win the Atherton Shield and raise money and awareness for FareShare and Holly’s Blooms Journey.
There’s plenty of entertainment on offer throughout the weekend too, with music acts like Amber Sax, former Venus DJ Adam Guy, DJ and Producer Fash as well as some incredible bands.
The tournament also has the backing of Sky Sports, Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham, and the Rio Ferdinand Foundation to name a few. Myprotein will be attending the tournament, providing volunteers and players with refreshments and gift bags throughout the day.
About The Charities
FareShare is the UK’s longest running food redistribution charity, having started up 25 years ago. Their aim is to relieve food poverty and food waste across the UK, an aim that couldn’t be more important after the pandemic. FareShare and its many volunteers redistribute high quality surplus food from the UK’s top food companies to charities and community groups across the country.
The Atherton Charity Shield has another cause too, a young girl called Holly. Chris and Richard have a mutual friend in Mark Prince, whose daughter Holly was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Bloom Syndrome last year. The condition affects the immune system, making Holly at risk of all cancers at a very young age. Not long after Holly’s Blooms diagnosis, she was also diagnosed with kidney cancer, devastating the family. When Chris found out about what Mark and his family were going through, he knew he had to get them involved in the event.
So, to help raise enough funds for Holly and the family to attend a Bloom Syndrome conference in Chicago, and to raise awareness of the condition, Holly’s cause was added to the tournament.
Take Home Message
We hope you join us in supporting the Atherton Charity Football Shield and help make an impact.
The event will be held Friday 25th to Sunday 27th June at Atherton LR’s Crilly Park and tickets are on sale now. You can follow the Atherton Charity Shield on their socials here:
Facebook:@AthertonCharityShield
Instagram:@athertonshield
Twitter:@AthertonShield
