Fantastic footballing fundraisers at a Huntingdon company have scored more than £11,000 pounds for a local hospice in memory of their beloved boss.
The team at Alconbury-based wooden pallet supplier, Motward Ltd, lined up at two special charity matches to raise funds for Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice.
The matches were in memory of Jason Tolhurst, who passed away from cancer in 2017 and was cared for at the Bedfordshire hospice.
In total, they raised £11,286.72 to make sure Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice can continue to provide its expert and compassionate palliative care.
Bailey Armiger, Transport Planner at Motward Ltd, said: “Jason was cared for at Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice. Everyone here thought very highly of him.
“St John’s is a charity that is local to most of us, who are from the Huntingdon and St Neots area. It’s a local charity that provided good care and we wanted to raise money for them.”
Bailey said the footy-mad team-mates came up with the idea of a charity match one day in the office to remember Jason – and organised one at St Neots Town FC back in 2019.
“We got a team together and set up a JustGiving page,” he added. “We made a bit of a day of it with thirty to forty people there. The weather was horrible though!”
After the success of the fundraiser, they decided to hold another match, but the pandemic gave their plans the red card.
But earlier this summer, the friends and colleagues got the go-ahead to kick-off their fundraising once more at a second match.
“We are all big football fans – I’ve played football since I was seven,” said Bailey. “We thought it would be an easy way to get people together and have a bit of competition, and try to raise money.”
The Motward team enjoyed their football fundraising so much, they have plans a-foot for a third charity match next summer.
Ellie Burke, Community Fundraiser at Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice, said: “We would like to say a huge thank you to everyone at Motward Ltd for their incredible support of our hospice. The amazing amount of money they have raised through their football fundraising in Jason’s memory will help us to continue to provide care to local families when they need us the most.”
You can find out more about Sue Ryder St John’s Hospice at www.sueryder.org/stjohns.
