‘Reamonn’ memorial cash sees thai kids enjoy new play park
Blantyre Soccer Academy kids helped youngsters in Thailand receive a Christmas cracker of a gift.
The generous football academy donated £5000 to the Good Child Foundation, enabling them to buy a brand new fun play park for the kids.
Cash was raised during the annual Reamonn Gormley Memorial Soccer Festival and sportsman’s dinner, in memory of the Blantyre teenager, who died tragically in February 2011.
The year before, Reamonn used a gap year from university to volunteer with the foundation, which helps children with Down’s syndrome.
Celtic-mad children in Thailand received a Christmas cracker of a present – thanks to Blantyre Soccer Academy.
The football outfit donated £5000 to the Good Child Foundation to enable them to purchase a brand new fun play park for the youngsters.
The money was raised during the academy’s 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 told the Advertiser: “Monies raised during this year’s tournament and sportsman’s dinner was donated to the Good Child Foundation which allowed them to purchase new play equipment for the school and purchase reusable cloth bags with the Blantyre Soccer Academy logo on them for the children to use as school bags.
“To date, thanks to the success of the yearly Reamonn Gormley Memorial Soccer Festival, we have built a new art classroom, a new football stand, sent the kids on the trip of a lifetime to a theme park for three days and a fully fitted refurbishment to their computer classroom.
“We are delighted 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 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.”
Paul Lennon, who runs the Good Child Foundation, said: “At school last week, two pickups delivered a new playground for the kids. All the students and teachers also received a cloth bag, to be used as an alternative to plastic bags, paid for by the Blantyre Soccer Academy’s annual Reamonn Gormley football tournament.
“Many thanks to everyone who took part.”
A former pupil of John Ogilvie High, Reamonn was just 19-years-old when he was stabbed to death in an attempted street robbery while walking home from the Parkville Hotel, on February 1, 2011.