A GRASSROOTS football club has celebrated a special anniversary and is looking forward to growing its various teams.
Tower Hill Football Club, based in Witney, held a 50th birthday party to celebrate with members and to thank them for their efforts during the pandemic.
Throughout the day, money was raised for charity with a total of £2,600 handed to the MND Association, which supports research into motor neurone disease.
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Claire Auton, club secretary at Tower Hill, said the bumper day was an opportunity to see members past and present.
She said: “The weather really helped as we had glorious sunshine.
“We had people from the past and original players, including a gentleman who said he scored the first ever goal for Tower Hill.
“It was nice to see so many of our 300 members, both past and present.
“We kicked off with our ladies team playing a charity match with our coaches, then we had a penalty shootout competition, raffle, face painting and a band playing live music in the evening.
“We also gave out long service awards to those who have been at the club for a number of years, while the kids were out playing football all day.
“It was a great way for people to come together again after there was a lot of disruption to the grassroots football community in the last 18 months, so it was a great time to give back and thank everyone for in our community.”
Miss Auton also praised club members for the amount raised for charity and looked ahead to how the club can grow in the future.
“We were blown away by the support and generosity of everyone – we didn’t expect to raise that amount of money,” she said.
“At Tower Hill, we are a family so all we can do is thank everyone for doing their bit.
“Being the club secretary and putting this together was so much work but it was worth it.
“We’re so proud of everyone at the club and I wanted this to be a chance to thank members, and personally, I’m pleased by the generosity of everyone.
“For us now, it’s about looking to the future and growing the club, and raising the profile of the club.
“We saw an increase in girls’ football with the World Cup two years ago so that’s another area we want to develop and we want to continue doing this.
“We’re always looking for coaches for all our teams and that’s probably what’s stopping us from growing at the moment.”
To find out more about Tower Hill, visit: towerhillfc.co.uk
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