Free Kicks Foundation

OUR VISION:
The aim of the Free Kicks Foundation is to provide football-related activities for ill, bereaved and other equally deserving children, to give them a day to remember with their favourite football club. The days out, which we call 'kicks', could involve meeting a favourite player, watching their favourite team train, tours of their chosen stadium, receiving a special gift or anything football related we can organise to make it a day they will never forget.
LATEST NEWS:
Friday July 18th saw our latest fund-raising activity...the first ever Free Kicks 'Wear Your Footy Shirt To Work' Day. Approximately a dozen companies and schools participated, all they had to do was pay £1 donation to Free Kicks per person and in return they could wear a football or sports shirt of their choice to work. Thankyou to everyone who took part, we managed to raise just under £1200 from the day!!
Staff at Bauer Media, more photos from the day can be seen in our pics section.
Since the release of the 08/09 fixtures we have been busy arranging 'kicks' for the coming season and currently have 10 more lined up! It's going to be a fantastic few months and it all began on 4th August at the Posh vs Man Utd pre-season friendly....details of the day are below.
2008 'KICKS':
For the first of the 08/09 season's 'kicks' we were able to take two deserving lads to see their heroes at the Peterborough Utd vs Man Utd pre-season friendly at London Road.
Jordan and Otto have both been through a tough time over the last few years so it was an absolute pleasure for us to be able to see the excitement on their faces as they arrived at London Road.
(l-r) Jordan, Joe Lewis, Otto.
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The same week in August also saw us travel to Southend to meet Harry and his family at the first of Posh's League 1 games. Harry was nominated to receive his 'kick' by his auntie following a feature in the Southend Echo.
Harry (far right)
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An away trip to Scunthorpe for the fixture vs Peterborough Utd was the setting for our last day out during a hectic August. It was there we met 10 year old Lewis and his family and watched him star in his role as Scunthorpe team mascot. Another great day and another young lad who did his family proud!
Lewis (left)
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9 year old Alex was watched by ten members of his family as he spent the day as team mascot for Northampton Town on September 13th. The match was the massive local derby against the Posh and, despite the game ending in a 1-1 draw, Alex really enjoyed his day.
Alex and his family with Steve.
Alex on the pitch before kick-off.
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On September 27th Free Kicks returned to the home of the MK Dons to finally meet up with Matthew and his family. It was a glorious day during the recent Indian Summer and over 10,000 people watched Matthew in his starring role as MK team mascot lead the team out prior to kick-off. The game ended with a triumphant win 2-1 for the Posh but even the result didn't spoil the family's very memorable day out!
Matthew (centre) with his family and Steve.
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On October 18th Free Kicks delivered two 'firsts'...our first female recipients of a special day out and also our first adult!
Sisters Hannah and Lucy were thrilled to spend the day as team mascots for the Posh at the game against Huddersfield. They managed to meet all the players including their favourite, George Boyd, and hero of the match Craig Makail-Smith (pictured below with the girls) who scored two of Peterborough's goals that day.
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The match at Norwich City's Carrow Road against Doncaster Rovers was the location of our other 'first' that day. We were contacted by Melanie at the Tennyson Lodge, March, to see if we could help make a dream come true. Andrew, 43, has Down's Syndrome and had said to the staff at the centre that he had always wanted to watch his favourite team play but had never been able to go. Always up for a challenge, we managed to arrange a 'Celebration' package for Andrew which meant, as well as watching the match, he was treated like a VIP for the day. As well as dinner in Delia Smith's restaurant, champagne, a personalised cake and his name up on the scoreboard, Andrew witnessed Norwich winning the game in the very last minute...the perfect end to the perfect day!
Andrew outside Carrow Road
Watching the match
The Celebration cake
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The nail-biting match at Stamford Bridge against Bolton saw Chelsea fan Thomas receive his 'kick' We arranged for Thomas and his family to go to the game and then stay overnight at a hotel in London...unfortunately we couldn't arrange for Chelsea to win the League title!
Thomas (second from right) and his family.
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On Monday 14th April we took 14 year old Adam to Chelsea v Wigan, at Stamford Bridge, where he watched the game from the players lounge and then went down to the tunnel after the game! He met and had his picture taken with the likes of John Terry (who gave him his match shirt and captains armband!), Joe Cole, Michael Essien and many more of his heroes. By all accounts he and his family had a great night!
Adam and Steve outside Stamford Bridge.
Inside the player's lounge.
With John Terry....
...and Joe Cole.
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The Peterborough Utd v Lincoln City game, on March 29th, was the setting for a treat for a very deserving lad from Langtoft. Keiran, 9, was nominated to receive a day out by his nan for being incredibly brave since the untimely death of his brother, Kyle, last July.
Kyle collapsed during an asthma attack, lost consciousness and tragically died shortly afterwards. The brothers were incredibly close but Keiran has shown remarkable strength and courage since losing his brother, who was also his best friend, hence why his family thought he deserved a day to remember at the Posh.
Keiran spent the afternoon at London Road as a Team Mascot for Peterborough, looking around the ground, meeting the players, training on the pitch and then leading the mighty Posh out onto the pitch at the start of the game.
Keiran with Joe Lewis...
...with Aaron McLean...
...and with some of his friends who had come along to see him in his starring role.
Since their sad loss the Wollerton family have become keen fund-raisers for Asthma UK and are doing a lot of work to promote awareness of asthma in their local area.
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Good Friday, March 21st, was the day we took Bradley Smith, 4, from Tattenhoe to be a mascot for MK Dons at the top of the table clash against Peterborough. Bradley suffers from Leukaemia and is currently undergoing treatment but he has coped so well that his family call him Big Brave Bradley! He certainly coped fantastically while he was at Stadium:mk, taking everything in his stride from start to finish.
Bradley, his family and Steve.
Big Brave Bradley
'POSH WE ARE':
Our most ambitious fund-raising venture took place earlier this year!
We teamed up with players from Peterborough United FC, indie band The Lightyears and pupils from Voyager School to record a new version of the football anthem 'Posh We Are'.
Posh players Joe Lewis, George Boyd, Danny Blanchett, Keiran Charnock and James McKeown came along to the recording to lend their vocal talents to the track along with many Posh fans.
It was released on April 28th and we hoped to sell enough copies to get the song into the download charts....and we succeeded! We reached no.45 in the iTunes Plus chart during the week of release and it was so exciting to see our name listed there alongside Coldplay and Queen.
We are still waiting to find out exactly how many copies we sold and how much money was raised; we will update on here when we know. The song is still available as a download from iTunes, Napster, and HMV. There is also a limited edition souvenir CD version but these do not count towards chart sales. If you are a fan of Posh, The Lightyears or a supporter of Free Kicks then please help us raise more money and download the single at 'Posh We Are'
During the week of release we embarked on a huge publicity campaign in the media to bring the single to as wide an audience as possible. The Lightyears were amazing, they visited schools all around Peterborough area, played the song and chatted to the kids. Then the climax of the week was on the Saturday at London Road.
After starting the day by singing 'Posh We Are' in the City Centre outside the Town Hall with a choir of 80 children, we then took up residency in the centre circle on the pitch where the band performed the song before the kick-off of the Posh v Darlington game.
It was such an emotional day, after seeing Steve's little idea gradually take shape and culminating in so many people working hard to make it a success. Aside from the money we will have raised, we had massive publicity all week which can only serve to increase our profile and public awareness of the work we do.
OUR FIRST 'KICKS':
Saturday 4th August saw us deliver our first 'kicks' to two very deserving young lads; Gareth from Peterborough and Tim from Haverhill.
Steve with Gareth (left) and Tim (right).
After meeting them and their families and presenting them both with brand new Man Utd kits we took them to the home of Posh, London Road, to watch the Peterborough Utd v Man Utd pre-season friendly. Here the boys were given a tour of the ground and were allowed access to the Posh players dressing room to get a few autographs and photos.
The lads with Aaron McLean of Posh.
Next on the busy agenda was a coaching session on the pitch with the other mascots before the highlight of the day.....leading the teams onto the pitch with 9,000 football fans cheering and applauding as they did so.
Then it was up to the Noel Cantwell Suite to watch the match which saw Man Utd win 3-1 in the end.
We at Free Kicks had an absolutely fantastic day which will stay in our memories for ever. We couldn't have asked for a better start to our mission of creating these special days for special kids...and we certainly couldn't have asked for two better recipients than Tim and Gareth.
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On November 10th we treated Jamie to a fantastic day at the FA Cup tie between Posh and Wrexham. Jamie, from Peterborough, suffers from leukaemia and was nominated for a 'kick' by Jackie from PDH. He and his family were picked up in style by limo and taken to London Road where his day as team mascot began. Highlights included meeting his favourite player, Jamie Day, a tour of the ground and then leading the team out onto the pitch just before kick-off.
Jamie with Mark Tyler and Jamie Day
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The recipient of our final 'kick' of 2007 was 11 year old Harry from March. When he was 4, and living on the Isle of Wight, Harry was involved in a life-threatening car accident which, happily, he survived despite months of traumatic treatment and plastic surgery. We arranged for him to be mascot at the match betwen Peterborough United and Bradford City on 22nd December, again at London Road.
Harry sitting in the Peterborough chairman's seat!
Once again Posh were outstanding in their hospitality and pulled out all the stops for Harry and his family, particularly great friend of Free Kicks, Aaron McLean, who presented Harry with a signed football shirt.
Aaron and Harry on the pitch.
All the family had a great day and certainly made our final 'kick' of the year a memorable one!
FUNDRAISING~SO FAR:
On Saturday 21st June the Free Kicks XI cricket team were in action against Whittlesey CC at their ground. Despite it raining all morning and having us doubt the match would even take place, it cleared up for the start of play.
It was a pretty close game, with Damon Williams being the Free Kicks' star player, but Whittlesey turned up the pressure in the last few overs to ensure a win for them.
We managed to raise almost £700 on the day and our thanks go to everybody that took part in any shape or form...in particular Andy Taylor for making it happen.
Free Kicks XI.
Over the weekend of 17/18th May we held our second annual fund-raising weekend. Saturday was the day we held an amazing gig at the Voyager School with bands The Lightyears, The Brays and Second Drove very kindly giving up their time to each perform a great set. The Lightyears headlined the evening and certainly made a whole new legion of fans on the night.
The next morning 12 teams took to the pitches at Powerleague for the 5-a-side football tournament. It was a brilliant day and a great success. All the games were played in good spirit and we would like to thank every single player for giving us a totally enjoyable day.
Eventual winners were the Peter Crouch Limbo Society after the final went to penalties for the second year running!
Good Friday was one of our busiest days to date. As well as Bradley's 'kick' (see below), the day also saw six very determined and brave souls travel the 58 miles from Peterborough to Milton Keynes by bike! Steve, Damon, Boothy, Phil, John and Barry completed the trip in under 5 hours, despite the bitter weather conditions, raising over £1000 for Free Kicks in the process...well done to you all!
On November 29th 2007 we were presented with a cheque for £100 which was a share of the profits from a new book. 'Posh Away Days' is a compilation of Posh supporters' memories of great away games they have been to over the years and has been compiled by Paul Donnelly. Since then we have been given a further £100 from sales of the book on the launch night. We would like to thank Paul for this fantastic gesture and wish him ongoing success with the book.
Our first events took place on 19th and 20th May 2007 in Peterborough, this was our official launch and was a resounding success.
Saturday's gig at The Park venue was fantastic and all three bands, The Ghears, Pilotlight and The Brays, gave us such professional and simply stunning performances. It was an honour to have all of them give up their precious time for Free Kicks and we are truly grateful to them all. We definitely picked the right bands to get this whole thing started.
On the Sunday we held a 5 a-side football tournament at Powerleague in Stanground. We started with 15 teams and, after 28 games, the eventual winners were Thrapston Venturas. The final was a thrilling match with high tension, it ended on a 3-3 draw so went to penalties with Thrapston emerging the worthy winners.
THE FUTURE:
We are working hard on planning the 'kicks' and creating memorable days out for as many deserving children as possible.
We have many more events for fundraising in the pipeline including... a challenge to visit all 92 Football League grounds in 92 hours or less, more gigs and we also plan to hold the Free Kicks Peterborough weekend on an annual basis.
The targets we have for kicks are:
2007 - 5 kicks (completed 4!!)
2008 - 10 kicks (7 so far!)
2009 - 20 kicks.
All work in the near future will be carried out on a voluntary basis but the aim for 2009 is to have one full time employee running the charity.
THE PEOPLE:
The charity is the brainchild of friends Steve Thorpe and Leigh Porter.
Steve is the driving force behind Free Kicks; his ideas, commitment and determination have ensured that we have achieved so much in such a short space of time. The friendships and contacts he has developed within the media and football worlds have allowed his ideas for fund-raising to not just happen, but to happen successfully, continually raising our public profile in the process. Without his drive and passion Free Kicks would undoubtably still be just an idea.
Steve currently works for EDF as a Data Retrieval Officer and has been a Posh fan and season ticket holder for 33 years. In 2005 he, along with two others, raised over £4000 for Sue Ryder on a tour of all 92 English League clubs in just 92 hours.
Leigh is the Commercial Manager at Peterborough United FC and a Posh fan all his life. He has a wealth of experience and contacts in the Football world and was previously a fund raiser for Sue Ryder Care at Thorpe Hall in Peterborough.
We have also recruited 2 further Trustees in Sam Downing and Damon Williams.
Sam is our kick coordinator; she puts in an enormous amount of time and energy working tirelessly behind the scenes for the charity. She has built up invaluable contacts with football clubs and also liaises with the children's wards at various hospitals. Although living on the Isle of Wight, she travels up to Peterborough on a regular basis for events and kicks alike.
All of Sam's hard work means that we are able to achieve our aim of providing kicks for deserving children.
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