Bedford Town have joined forces with well-known children’s charity, NSPCC for the 2022/23 football season with a vast array of fundraising events to come at The Eyrie.
On average, a child somewhere in the UK contacts the NSPCC-run Childline service every 25 seconds. In 2020/21, Childline volunteers delivered over 200,000 counselling sessions to children and young people across the UK on the phone and online.
NSPCC estimates that volunteers delivered around 2,300 counselling sessions to children living in Bedfordshire last year.
Protect children from abuse
It’s not the first time the NSPCC has teamed up with a Bedford sports club; Bedford Blues ran a similar initiative throughout the 2019/20 season.
That partnership led to Bedford Blues Community running ‘Speak Out Stay Safe’ assemblies in primary schools as well as more casual opportunities for children to be part of the match day guard of honour.
Read: Bedford Blues team up with NSPCC to promote child safety
Now, the town’s premier football club is getting involved and will do all it can to raise funds and raise awareness on one of the most important topics.
NSPCC Community Fundraising Manager for Bedfordshire Karen Olden said: “It’s through partnerships like Bedford Town Football Club that we can promote our messages to the local community about the work the charity does and help to protect children from abuse.
“By working together with the public of Bedford and the wider county we can fund vital services like the charity’s Speak Out, Stay Safe programme.
“This teaches children in an age-appropriate way to recognise the signs of abuse and speak out to an adult they can trust if they are worried about anything.
“Without the generous support of the public and partnerships like Bedford Football Club we would not be able to continue the work we do, and we can’t wait to start announcing events with the club in the near future.”
Jane Jones, Bedford Town Football Club Outreach Liaison, said, “This is a great opportunity for the club to work alongside the NSPCC by raising awareness and much needed funds to continue the work they do.”
For more information, please contact jane.jones@bedfordeagles.net or eastofenglandpressoffice@nspcc.org.uk.
