27 May 2009
The giantkilling Sutton United veterans team saw victory again last Wednesday (20 May), in a charity football match against a team of celebrities.
In front of a 300-strong crowd, the veterans won the game 2-1.
The match, which featured 25 veterans and 18 celebritities, was held to raise funds for the Queen Mary's Hospital for Children, part of St Helier Hospital, and a local support group for people living with ME.
Each charity will receive £675 from the event, while Queen Mary's hospital staff boosted their funds by £90 as they collected donations from football fans.
Senior sister for Queen Mary's Hospital for Children's outpatient service, Chris Renvoize, was in the stands for the match. She said: "It's fantastic that this event raised so much money for our hospital. It was a brilliant evening, and we owe the organisers a big thank you for all of their hard work."
The money raised will be put into the Queen Mary's Hospital for Children centenary fund, which is set to be used towards an outside play area for children and new state-of-the-art medical equipment.
Organiser and football fanatic, Graham Baker said: "We're really pleased about how the evening went. There was a fantastic atmosphere in the ground - the whole place was buzzing.
"This was the first time since 1989 that the giantkilling team have been on the same pitch, and that obviously meant a lot to local fans - people wanted to see their Sutton heroes."
And it wasn't just fans that were keen to get in on the action - one of the veterans, Robin Jones, drove all the way from Wales to take part in the match and returned back home after the final whistle.
One local fan, Dean Kirkby paid £50 to take part in the match and played for 15 minutes alongside his heroes.
Members of hospital staff will be taking part in the Carshalton Carnival on 13 June. To support them, or for more information about upcoming Queen Mary's centenary events, contact Sue Collis on 020 8296 2478, or visit our website at www.epsom-sthelier.nhs.uk/events.
