AFC Fylde Community Foundation celebrates 2024 Refugee Week with our Football Welcomes project!
The Foundation are proud to boast our ‘Football Welcomes’ programme which helps provide local refugees and asylum seekers within the Fylde Borough take part in weekly football sessions.
The group is in partnership with Fylde Council, Lancashire County Council and Amnesty UK and as the Foundation’s latest Impact Report states, we supported 62 refugees in 2023.
We are approaching the three year mark of this project, dating back to August 2021, and courtesy of The National Lottery Community Fund’s generous grant of £19,900 back in February of this year, we are delighted to be able to continue running the project for the foreseeable future.
It has really flourished in recent times, so much so that one of the more senior figures within the group, Mohamed Hashim was awarded as the Foundation’s new Community Captain.
Mohamed Dele, as he’s known, received the award due to his outstanding work for the ‘Football Welcomes’ programme – just a few examples of this great work is taking on the responsibility of recruiting new participants whilst also ensuring they have travel to and from the sessions.
These sessions are held every Tuesday night at Fylde Sports and Education Centre, at the recently changed time of 17:30-18:30.
The sessions provide a fantastic opportunity for local refugees to meet new people and protect their mental and physical wellbeing.
They have visited the National Football Museum in Manchester, participated in Salvation Army UK’s annual partnerships tournament and visited Burnley FC in the Community for a friendly, whilst also playing against the Foundation’s own Veteran’s side.
Our Community Development
Co-ordinator, Scott Harries, believes:
“Our ‘Football Welcomes’ programme is one of the Foundation’s most successful projects.
“However, it is still important to raise awareness and acknowledge Refugee Week because we want to continue it’s growth and help as many people as possible.
“It is a privilege to be able to oversee such a positive-minded group who are so welcoming to everyone who comes along. We are all here to help each other, to build up their confidence and make them believe they are apart of the local community.”
In September 2023, Scott and the rest of the Foundation received a certificate of appreciation from the participants as a thank you for the support we offer them.
For more information regarding our ‘Football Welcomes’ programme, please email: scott.harries@afcfylde.co.uk.
