Thai school boost
Blantyre Soccer Academy donates £5000
Celtic-mad children in Thailand have scored a cracker once again – thanks to Blantyre Soccer Academy.
For the football outfit has donated £5000 to youngsters at the Good Child Foundation from their annual Reamonn Gormley Memorial Soccer Festival and Sportsman’s Dinner, held back in May and June.
The Good Child Foundation is a school for children with Down’s syndrome, based in the Chanthaburi province of Thailand. They formed a partnership with the soccer academy following the tragic passing of Blantyre teenager Reamonn in 2011.
During a gap year from university in 2010, Celtic-mad Reamonn had gone to volunteer with the foundation – whose pupils now also follow Celtic and are affectionately known as the Thai Tims – and won the hearts of everyone there through his work and dedication.
Academy chairman Jimmy Whelan is delighted to once again be supporting the foundation in memory of Reamonn and said: “The academy have run the Reamonn Gormley Memorial Soccer Festival every year since Reamonn’s death, and in recent years also organised the annual Reamonn Gormley Memorial Sportsman’s Dinner which raises additional monies, allowing us to fund activities for the children of the Good Child Foundation and other local charities over the course of the year.
“We are delighted with the phenomenal amount of money raised this year and with the wonderful partnership we have forged with the Good Child Foundation.
“This is a fantastic school which was set up by Paul Lennon and his wife Pun, who are based in Chanthaburi in the province of Thailand, and offers placements for children with Down’s syndrome who have previously been excluded from a school environment and education; the benefits are immeasurable.
“The school supports children through peer support and social inclusion, eliminating the barriers and stigma attached to disability.
“A short while after Reamonn’s death these children went on a once-in-a-lifetime trip came to visit Blantyre to pay their respects to him and his family.
“This touched many people’s hearts including the committee of Blantyre Soccer Academy, and now eight years on we are still fundraising for them.”
Previous years have seen donations to the foundation pay for a purpose-built Blantyre Soccer Academy art room in memory of Reamonn, a spectators’ stand that lets the children watch sports in comfort, as well as money to send the children on a threeday trip-of-a-lifetime to a theme park in Thailand, along with help in various other educational projects.
On the Thai Tims Facebook page they posted recently: “We have received a wonderful donation of £5000 from funds raised by the Blantyre Soccer Academy’s annual Reamonn Gormley football tournament.
“Many thanks to everyone who took part. YNWA (You’ll Never Walk Alone).”
A £4000 donation last year also allowed the Thai school to buy new computers and software for their IT suite.
A former pupil of John Ogilvie High, Reamonn Gormley was just 19-yearsold when he was stabbed to death in an attempted street robbery while walking home from the Parkville Hotel, on February 1, 2011.