Stalybridge Celtic FC Community Development are pleased to announce a season long partnership with The Believe and Achieve Trust to raise awareness of Meningitis and to raise valuable funds for the Trust.
The Trust was set up in 2014 to honour the memory of Alex Williams, a Tameside youngster who was hit by meningitis at the age of just 7. Although confined to a wheelchair from that point on, Alex never allowed the condition to hold him back and dedicated himself to being a positive influence, becoming an ambassador for the Meningitis Trust.
Throughout his young life until his tragic death in 2012 at the age of 18, Alex made ‘Believe and Achieve' his motto, doing much to raise awareness of meningitis symptoms among the local community, becoming involved in parasports and doing everything he could to help others. He was an inspiration to all around him.
The Believe and Achieve Trust disburses grants to applicants across Tameside who are either young people and families affected by meningitis, or young people up to the age of 18 who are in need of support in order to ‘Believe and Achieve' in any sporting field, because it was one of Alex's driving beliefs that sport should be inclusive. Providing that applicants meet a certain set of requirements, the Trust can help with a grant of any size up to £2,000. In its first year alone, the Trust awarded over £9,000 in grants.
The Believe and Achieve Trust also supports the Tameside Titans, a dedicated disability sports club, which offers activities including football, dance, swimming, athletics and cycling at venues including Crossley Playing Fields, the Copley Centre, Denton Pools and Richmond Park.
This summer, they have been proud to be a part of Active Tameside's ‘Road to Rio' fundraising programme, where local people have contributed to a target of 5,818 miles (the distance between London 2012 and Rio de Janeiro, the Olympics' host city this year), whether by running, swimming, cycling or walking.
Alison Williams, Believe and Achieve Trust ‘It's something that Alex would fully approve of: inclusive, active, and most of all, fun. Sport can such a wonderful way of making all our lives better – we hope you can help us continue to help making a positive difference to the lives of those in need. Thank you'.
Mike Smith, Stalybridge Celtic FC ‘We are delighted to be able to support The Believe and Achieve Trust for the National League North 2016/17 season and look forward to being able to contribute to raising awareness of meningitis whilst supporting the fundraising of Trust'
We will be holding a ‘Bucket Collection' for The Believe and Achieve Trust at our Home fixture versus Stockport County FC on Tuesday 9th August 2016, and will be working on various other Community projects throughout the season.
For more information and to find out more about Believe and Achieve grants, please visit www.believeandachieve.org.uk
