Hamilton Advertiser

Your chance to own Fir Park for only £3

Fundraisin­g draw for LEGO version of Motherwell’s stadium

- Shirley Bartynek

We might just have found the perfect piece of memorabili­a for all LEGO and Motherwell football fans – and it could be yours for just £3.

A generous Steelmen fan commission­ed the model of Fir Park in a bid to raise money that will improve the match-day experience for both home and away disabled fans.

And LEGO export Chris Smith – who is working his way through replicas of every top-flight stadium in the UK – was delighted to add Motherwell’s stadium to his list.

He builds the stadiums in his free time and worked on the Motherwell project for over a month, and there arrangemen­t with the club where the DSA keep a percentage of gate money and season ticket money from disabled fans, and this money is then used for improvemen­ts.

“Our next big project is for new accessible toilets. We currently have one, however it’s not enough for the amount of home and away fans we host in the disabled sections. Another project for this season is to reach out into the community and try and encourage disabled fans to come along who perhaps have barriers in their way. We want to break those barriers. This will obviously come at a cost but this is another reason why fundraisin­g is so important to us.

“In March 2017, there was a complete overhaul of the DSA committee and we set out a new constituti­on, new aims and ambitions. Eventually, we would love other clubs to look at us and say ‘That’s what we want our disabled supporters associatio­n to be like’.

“We want to lead the way. As an ‘able bodied’ supporter myself, I was shocked the first time I joined some fellow ’Well fans in the disabled section. I had no idea until then the difficulti­es that were faced when attending a football match with a disability. As the new fundraisin­g manager for the DSA, it inspires me to want to raise as much money as possible to make things easier and more enjoyable for disabled fans.

“This is an amazing opportunit­y for a ’Well fan to win an incredible piece of memorabili­a. We are extremely grateful for this donation.”

The LEGO Fir Park is now on display in the club shop and will be there until the draw is made on Saturday, October 28. Volunteers will be at the club shop an hour before every home game selling raffle tickets or alternativ­ely you can email jillian@mfcdsa.com or call Jillian on 0771446286­9 for tickets.

Jillian added: “Ticket prices have been kept low to allow everyone to have a chance. They are priced at £3 for one, or two for £5. We would encourage people to pop along to the shop and have a look for themselves as it truly is wonderful.”

they wanted to donate it to DSA to allow us to raise funds

 ??  ?? Fundraiser Jillian Gillen, fundraisin­g manager at DSA, with Chris Smith and his LEGO model of Fir Park
Fundraiser Jillian Gillen, fundraisin­g manager at DSA, with Chris Smith and his LEGO model of Fir Park
 ??  ?? Model stadium Fir Park has been created out of LEGO bricks
Model stadium Fir Park has been created out of LEGO bricks

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